title: Attitudes toward group-based inequality: social dominance or social identity?
abstract: In five studies we explored how the context in which people think about the social structure and the implications of the social structure for one's in-group affect attitudes toward inequality. In Studies 1 and 2 we found that social dominance orientation (SDO) scores reflect attitudes toward specific types of inequality that are salient in context. Consistent with social identity theory, in Studies 3 to 5 we found that SDO scores reflected the interests of specific group identities. Indeed, when we compared existing privileged and disadvantaged groups, and when we manipulated in-group status, we found that participants held more positive attitudes toward inequality when the in-group was privileged, compared to when the in-group was disadvantaged. Across all of our studies, results were consistent with the contention that attitudes toward inequality are group-specific and depend on the social-structural position of salient in-groups. We discuss the implications of our findings for social dominance theory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, USA.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Nyla R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Branscombe
authors.forename: Diane M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Kappen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D012737:Sex Factors; D012930:Social Dominance; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires