Briefly summaries both social dominance and system justification theories. Explain how each explains the perpetuation of unequal group hierarchies. Explain what a legitimizing ideology is and provide an example that researchers have examined.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

According to social dominance theory, hierarchies based on sex and ethnicity are legitimized, in part, with the help of a belief known as social dominance orientation, or, the belief that inequality is right and fair because some people and groups should have more status than others. Thus members of dominant groups or people high on SDO tend to both embrace cultural ideologies that justify hierarchy and to seek occupations capable of perpetuating power differences. System justification theory posits that all people have a powerful motivation to justify the sociopolitical system in which their lives are embedded. Because feelings of uncertainty and unfairness threaten people’s needs for security, people are motivated to accept the current social system as legitimate, even if it denies them access to resources. Legitimizing ideologies reflect beliefs that serve to justify the current sociopolitical system. One example of these are complementary stereotypes, or stereotypes that link the same group to both positive and negative qualities. People are motivated to believe that if a group has a clear disadvantage, it also has some compensatory positive attributes that make the disadvantage seem less unfair. For example, hostile and benevolent sexism contain complementary stereotypes by portraying women as simultaneously less competent than men and more virtuous than men.