Criticisms of The Social Dominance Orientation Construct
Rubin and Hewstone (2004) argue that social dominance theory has changed its focus dramatically over the years, and these changes have been reflected in different versions of the social dominance orientation construct. Social dominance orientation was originally defined as “the degree to which individuals desire social dominance and superiority for themselves and their primordial groups over other groups” (p. 209). It then quickly changed to not only “(a) a…desire for and value given to in-group dominance over out-groups” but also “(b) the desire for nonegalitarian, hierarchical relationships between groups within the social system” (p. 1007). The most recent measure of social dominance orientation (see SDO-6 above) focuses on the “general desire for unequal relations among social groups, regardless of whether this means ingroup domination or ingroup subordination” (p. 312) Given these changes, Rubin and Hewstone believe that evidence for social dominance theory should be considered “as supporting three separate SDO hypotheses, rather than one single theory” (p. 22).
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