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Social Dominance Orientation, Hierarchy Attenuators and Hierarchy Enhancers: Social Dominance Theory and the Criminal Justice System
Author(s) -
Sidanius Jim,
Liu James H.,
Shaw John S.,
Pratto Felicia
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1994.tb00586.x
Subject(s) - social dominance orientation , dominance (genetics) , ethnic group , social psychology , psychology , hierarchy , dominance hierarchy , social group , social hierarchy , criminology , political science , aggression , law , politics , biochemistry , authoritarianism , democracy , gene , chemistry
This study investigated differences in social dominance orientation between incumbents of different social roles (police officers vs. public defenders) and ethnic groups known to differ in general social status (i.e., whites vs. blacks and Hispanics). Consistent with theoretical expectations: (a) Police were significantly more social‐dominance oriented than either jurors or public defenders. (b) Public defenders tended to be less social‐dominance oriented than jurors. (c) Euro‐Americans were significantly more social dominance oriented than Afro‐ and Hispanic‐Americans, (d) Euro‐American police officers had, by far, the highest levels of social dominance orientation. Furthermore, all of the effects above held even when controlling for demographic factors such as gender, social class, age, education, and ethnic group. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.