Social Dominance Orientation and Hierarchy Preference

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Core Idea

Social dominance orientation (SDO) is a personality variable reflecting preference for group-based hierarchy and inequality. Individuals high in SDO support hierarchical arrangements between groups, endorse hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies that rationalize inequality, and oppose policies promoting greater equality. SDO predicts prejudice against multiple outgroups and support for intergroup aggression.

How It's Best Learned

Examine how SDO and right-wing authoritarianism independently predict prejudice—sometimes in opposing directions for specific targets—to understand that different ideological personality dimensions drive prejudice through different mechanisms.

Explainer

Social dominance orientation (SDO) is a personality variable measuring how much an individual prefers group-based social hierarchies — arrangements where some groups sit above others in status, wealth, and power. From your prerequisite study of prejudice and discrimination, you know that prejudice involves negative attitudes toward outgroup members. SDO explains *why* some individuals show generalized prejudice across many different outgroups simultaneously: they prefer that certain groups be subordinate, and they endorse whatever outgroups happen to occupy low-status positions in their social context.

The mechanism runs through hierarchy-legitimizing myths — ideologies that justify why dominant groups deserve their position and subordinate groups deserve theirs. Racism, sexism, nationalism, and economic ideologies that naturalize inequality all function as hierarchy-legitimizing myths. People high in SDO preferentially seek out and endorse these beliefs because they rationalize the hierarchical arrangements SDO-high individuals already prefer. This is where the connection to system justification (your soft prerequisite) becomes clear: system justification describes passive acceptance of existing arrangements; SDO describes active preference for hierarchy itself, not just tolerance of it.

Comparing SDO to right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) sharpens what SDO is. Both predict prejudice, but through different psychological mechanisms. RWA individuals are submissive to established authority and hostile to those who violate conventional norms — they target "deviants." SDO individuals prefer dominance hierarchies — they target low-status groups. These diverge for specific targets: RWA predicts more prejudice toward LGBTQ people and religious minorities (norm violators), while SDO predicts more prejudice toward homeless people and economically disadvantaged groups (low-status targets). Where both align — as with racial minorities who are both low-status and cast as norm-violators — their effects compound, producing the strongest prejudice.

Group membership itself moderates SDO: members of dominant groups tend to score higher in SDO than members of subordinate groups, a pattern consistent with the theory — hierarchy benefits the dominant, so they prefer it. This also means SDO is not merely a personality quirk but is embedded in social structure. High-SDO individuals preferentially enter and are retained in hierarchy-reinforcing institutions (law enforcement, military, certain business sectors), which raises a question about whether SDO shapes institutions or institutions attract and cultivate SDO — likely both, in a mutually reinforcing cycle.

Practice Questions 5 questions

Prerequisite Chain

Counting to 10 → Counting to 20 → Understanding Zero → The Number Zero → Counting to Five → One-to-One Correspondence → Combining Small Groups Within 5 → Addition Within 10 → Addition Within 20 → Two-Digit Addition Without Regrouping → Two-Digit Addition with Regrouping → Addition Within 100 → Repeated Addition as Multiplication → Multiplication Facts Within 100 → Division as Equal Sharing → Division as Grouping (Measurement Division) → Division: Grouping (Repeated Subtraction) Model → Division: Fair Sharing Model → Division as Equal Sharing → Division as Grouping → Basic Division Facts → Division Facts Within 100 → Two-Digit by One-Digit Division → Division with Remainders → Remainders and Quotients in Division → Division Word Problems → Introduction to Long Division → Factors and Multiples → Prime and Composite Numbers → Equivalent Fractions → Relating Fractions and Decimals → Decimal Place Value → Reading and Writing Decimals → Comparing and Ordering Decimals → Adding and Subtracting Decimals → Multiplying Decimals → Dividing Decimals → Dividing Fractions → Mixed Number Arithmetic → Order of Operations → Integer Order of Operations → Variable Expressions → Combining Like Terms → One-Step Equations → Two-Step Equations → Solving Multi-Step Equations → Equations with Variables on Both Sides → Angle Pairs: Complementary, Supplementary, and Vertical → Parallel Lines and Transversals → Corresponding Angles → Alternate Interior Angles → Triangle Angle Sum Theorem → Exterior Angle Theorem → Triangle Inequality Theorem → Similar Triangles: AA Similarity → Similar Triangles: SSS and SAS Similarity → Proportions in Similar Triangles → Right Triangle Trigonometry Introduction → Trigonometric Ratios Review → Radian Measure → Converting Between Degrees and Radians → The Unit Circle → Graphing Sine and Cosine → Graphing Tangent and Reciprocal Trigonometric Functions → Derivatives of Trigonometric Functions → Antiderivatives → Iterated Integrals and Fubini's Theorem → Double Integrals in Cartesian Coordinates → Double Integrals over Rectangular Regions → Double Integrals in Polar Coordinates → Double Integrals: Definition and Setup → Iterated Integrals and Fubini's Theorem → Double Integrals over Rectangular Regions → Double Integrals over General Regions → Applications of Double Integrals: Area, Mass, and Moments → Triple Integrals in Cartesian Coordinates → Triple Integrals in Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinates → Change of Variables and the Jacobian Determinant → Applications of Triple Integrals: Volume and Mass → Vector Fields and Their Representations → Line Integrals of Vector Fields → Green's Theorem → Surface Integrals and Flux of Vector Fields → Surface Integrals and Flux of Vector Fields → Divergence Theorem: Flux and Outflow → Divergence Theorem → Electric Flux → Gauss's Law → Conductors in Electrostatic Equilibrium → Capacitance and Capacitors → Dielectrics → Dielectric Constant and Relative Permittivity → Electric Field Inside Dielectric Materials → Dielectric Materials and Polarization → Dielectric Susceptibility and Permittivity → Energy Density in Electric Fields → Electric Current and Current Density → Electrical Resistance and Resistivity → Ohm's Law and Circuit Elements → Electromotive Force (EMF) and Batteries → Kirchhoff's Circuit Laws: Voltage and Current → DC Circuit Network Analysis Methods → Transient Response in RC Circuits → RC Circuits → LC and RLC Circuits → AC Circuits: Fundamentals → Impedance and Reactance → AC Power and Resonance → Electromagnetic Waves → The Electromagnetic Spectrum → Blackbody Radiation and Planck's Law → Photoelectric Effect → The Photon: Light as Quanta → Compton Scattering → Wave-Particle Duality → de Broglie Wavelength → Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle → Wavefunction and the Born Rule → The Schrödinger Equation → State Vectors and Wavefunctions → Quantum Superposition → Quantum Entanglement → Bell Theorem and Bell Inequalities → Postulates of Quantum Mechanics → Scattering Theory → Introduction to Scattering Theory → Partial Wave Analysis in Scattering → Spin Angular Momentum → Electron Spin and Intrinsic Magnetic Moment → Stern-Gerlach Experiment: Spin Quantization and Measurement → Electron Diffraction and Matter Wave Properties → Davisson-Germer Experiment: Crystal Diffraction of Electrons → Electron Diffraction and Matter Wave Interference → Wavefunctions and Probability Density Interpretation → Quantum Superposition and Linear Combinations of States → Quantum Operators and Observables → Canonical Commutation Relations and Uncertainty → Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and Measurement Limits → Time-Independent Schrödinger Equation and Eigenvalues → Hydrogen Atom in Quantum Mechanics → Spectral Lines and Energy Transitions → Selection Rules for Atomic Transitions → LS and jj Coupling Schemes in Multi-Electron Atoms → Pauli Exclusion Principle and Antisymmetric Wavefunctions → Electron Configuration and the Aufbau Principle → The Periodic Table and Atomic Electronic Structure → The Periodic Table → Electron Configuration → Periodic Trends → Ionization Energy → Ionic Bonding → Lewis Structures → Resonance Structures and Delocalized Electrons → Resonance and Formal Charge → Molecular Polarity and Dipole Moments → Intermolecular Forces → States of Matter and Phase Changes: Melting, Boiling, and Sublimation → Gas Laws and the Ideal Gas Equation → Gas Stoichiometry and Volume-Volume Calculations → Thermochemistry and Enthalpy → Heat Capacity and Calorimetry → Entropy and Molecular Disorder → Spontaneity and ΔG → Entropy and Gibbs Free Energy → Chemical Equilibrium → Acid-Base Chemistry → Organic Reaction Mechanisms and Arrow Pushing → SN2 Substitution Reactions → SN1 Substitution Reactions → E1 Elimination Reactions → Alcohols and Ethers: Structure, Properties, and Nomenclature → Reactions of Alcohols → Aldehydes and Ketones: Structure and Reactivity → Nucleophilic Addition to Aldehydes and Ketones → Carboxylic Acids and Their Derivatives → Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution → Amines: Structure, Basicity, and Reactions → Amine Reactivity: Nucleophilicity and Basicity → Amino Acid Structure and Properties → Amino Acid Classification and Biochemical Properties → Protein Primary Structure → Protein Secondary Structure → Protein Tertiary Structure → Ion Channels and Selective Permeability Mechanisms → Sensory Receptor Transduction and Adaptation → Sensory Transduction and Encoding → Sensory Pathways Overview → Selective Attention → Divided Attention and Dual-Task Performance → Distributed Networks of Attention → Spatial Attention and Posterior Parietal Cortex → Prefrontal-Parietal Attention Networks and Control → Executive Control Networks and the Prefrontal Cortex → Neuroeconomics and Value Computation → Neural Mechanisms of Decision-Making → Working Memory Neural Circuits → Memory Encoding and Levels of Processing → Semantic Memory and Network Models → Mental Models in Understanding and Reasoning → Problem Representation and Solution Search → Expert Cognition and Knowledge Organization → Schemas and Knowledge Organization → Social Cognition → Impression Formation and Cognitive Integration → Attribution Theory and Causal Judgment → Correspondence Bias and Situational Underestimation → Self-Serving Bias → Prejudice and Discrimination → Social Identity Theory → System Justification and Ideological Reasoning → Social Dominance Orientation and Hierarchy Preference

Longest path: 211 steps · 1193 total prerequisite topics

Prerequisites (2)

Prejudice and Discriminationhard System Justification and Ideological Reasoningsoft

Leads To (0)

No topics depend on this one yet.