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On the Relationship between Aggression and Social Dominance
Author(s) -
Francis Richard C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00233.x
Subject(s) - aggression , dominance (genetics) , psychology , social psychology , dominance hierarchy , temptation , developmental psychology , biology , biochemistry , gene
It is frequently assumed that variation in dominance status is in large part a function of differences in levels of aggressiveness. This assumption and the reasoning underlying it are examined in this paper. It is argued that the large role ascribed to aggression with respect to dominance success results from a conceptual error, in particular, the temptation to conflate the two constructs. There may be an association between aggression and social dominance, not because levels of aggression determine dominance success, but because aggression is a manifestation of dominance. It is further argued that the analysis of dominance relationships exclusively in terms of individual attributes such as aggression is flawed. Social dominance is a relational quality, which could be profitably studied from a sociological perspective.