Social Dominance Theory: A New Synthesis

Social dominance theory is a multi-level theory of how societies maintain group-based dominance. Nearly all stable societies can be considered group-based dominance hierarchies, in which one social group – often an ethnic, religious, national, or racial one – holds disproportionate power and enjoys special privileges, and at least one other group has relatively little political power or ease in its way of life. As examples, consider the relationship between contemporary Western European nations and their immigrant groups and Roma, between the ruling elites of South America and their indigenous peoples, or between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians. In all cases, the economic, educational, and health outcomes are superior for members of the dominant groups from what they are for members of the subordinate groups. Moreover, societies recognize the legal rights of dominants and portray their ways of living as virtuous and characteristic of the whole society, whereas subordinates receive little social recognition and are even stigmatized. Group dominance societies also feature an intersecting kind of group oppression, namely sexism, men holding disproportionate power and freedoms compared with women, and heterosexism being privileged over other kinds of sexuality. Social dominance theory describes how processes at different levels of social organization, from cultural ideologies and institutional discrimination to gender roles and the psychology of prejudice, work together to produce stable group-based inequality. Keywords: force; oppression; social justice; legitimizing myths; group dominance; violence