Abstract

Social dominance orientation (SDO), one's degree of preference for inequality among social groups, is introduced. On the basis of social dominance theory, it is shown that (a) men are more social dominance-oriented than women, (b) high-SDO people seek hierarchy-enhancing professional roles and low-SDO people seek hierarchy-attenuating roles, (c) SDO was related to beliefs in a large number of social and political ideologies that support group-based hierarchy (e.g., meritocracy and racism) and to support for policies that have implications for intergroup relations (e.g., war, civil rights, and social programs), including new policies. SDO was distinguished from interpersonal dominance, conservatism, and authoritariansim. SDO was negatively correlated with empathy, tolerance, communality, and altruism. The ramifications of SDO in social context are discussed.

Keywords

Social dominance orientationPsychologySocial psychologyBiology and political orientationPersonalityDominance (genetics)PoliticsSocial perceptionPerceptionAuthoritarianism

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Year
1994
Type
article
Volume
67
Issue
4
Pages
741-763
Citations
4644
Access
Closed

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Felicia Pratto, Jim Sidanius, Lisa M. Stallworth et al. (1994). Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 67 (4) , 741-763. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741

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DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741