Hierarchy and legitimising myths
The theory proposes that most societies have dominant and subordinate groups, and that beliefs known as legitimising myths help justify the differences. These can enhance hierarchy, as with racism, or attenuate it, as with some ideas of universal rights. Institutions and individual actions together are said to help maintain inequality.
Social dominance orientation
Social dominance orientation is an individual difference in support for inequality between groups. Scales measuring it predict attitudes toward policies, prejudice and preferences for certain careers. Later research separated a dominance facet from an anti-egalitarian one, and these relate to outcomes in different ways.
Criticisms
Critics question the theory's evolutionary claims and argue that social context shapes social dominance orientation more than the theory first implied. The measure's relationship with right-wing authoritarianism has also attracted attention, since both predict prejudice but are thought to reflect different motives, namely competition and threat.
Further reading
- Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge University Press.
- Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L. M., & Malle, B. F. (1994). Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 741-763.
- Ho, A. K., et al. (2015). The nature of social dominance orientation: Theorizing and measuring preferences for intergroup inequality using the new SDO7 scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, 1003-1028.