Hierarchy Maintenance
There are always those who have more and those who have less. All else equal, people prefer to be part of the group at the top of the hierarchy.
What strategies do members of dominant groups use to maintain their position of power?
Relevant Publications
Taking race off the table: Agenda setting and support for colorblind public policy.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2016, with E. D. Knowles
Whites are theorized to support color-blind policies as an act of racial agenda setting—an attempt to defend the existing hierarchy by excluding race from public and institutional discourse. The present analysis leverages work distinguishing between two forms of social dominance orientation: passive opposition to equality (SDO–E) and active desire for dominance (SDO–D) (Ho et al., 2012). We hypothesized that agenda setting as a subtle hierarchy-maintenance strategy would be uniquely tied to high levels of SDO–E. When made to believe that the hierarchy was under threat, Whites high in SDO–E increased their endorsement of color-blind policy (Study 1), particularly when the racial hierarchy was framed as ingroup advantage (Study 2), and became less willing to include race as a topic in a hypothetical presidential debate (Study 3). Across studies, Whites high in SDO–D showed no affinity for agenda setting as a hierarchy-maintenance strategy.
Deny, distance, or dismantle? How White Americans manage a privileged identity.
Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2014, with E. D. Knowles, B. S. Lowery, and M. M. Unzueta
Social scientists have traditionally argued that whiteness—the attribute of being recognized and treated as a White person in society—is powerful because it is invisible. On this view, members of the racially dominant group have the unique luxury of rarely noticing their race or the privileges it confers. This article challenges the “invisibility thesis,” arguing that Whites frequently regard themselves as racial actors. We further argue that whiteness defines a problematic social identity that confronts Whites with two psychological threats: the possibility that their accomplishments in life were not fully earned (meritocratic threat) and the association with a group that benefits from ill-gotten and unfair social advantages (group-image threat). We theorize that Whites manage their racial identity to dispel these threats. According to our Deny, Distance, or Dismantle (3D) model of White identity management, dominant-group members have three strategies at their disposal: deny the existence of privilege, distance the self-concept from the White category, or strive to dismantle systems of privilege. Whereas denial and distancing promote insensitivity and inaction with respect to racial inequality, dismantling reduces threat by relinquishing privileges. We suggest that interventions aimed at reducing inequality should attempt to leverage dismantling as a strategy of White identity management.
Appeasement: Whites’ strategic support for affirmative action.
Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin, 2013, with B. S. Lowery and C. M. Hogan
This paper explores the possibility that dominant group members will attempt to appease subordinate groups to protect the hierarchy. In four studies, we find that 1) pro-hierarchy Whites perceive more inter-group threat when they believe ethnic minorities hold Whites in low regard, 2) pro-hierarchy Whites respond to ethnic minorities’ low regard for Whites by increasing their support for redistributive policies (e.g., affirmative action), 3) the increase in support only occurs when pro-hierarchy Whites perceive the hierarchy to be unstable, and 4) pro-hierarchy Whites perceive the hierarchy to be more stable if they believe Whites support redistributive policies. These results suggest that pro-hierarchy dominant group members’ support for redistributive policies can stem from a concern about maintaining the hierarchical status quo, and provides evidence that support for redistributive policies can be a hierarchy-enhancing strategy.
On the malleability of ideology: Motivated construals of colorblindness.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2009, with E. D. Knowles, B. S. Lowery, and C. M. Hogan
The authors propose that the content of certain sociopolitical ideologies can be shaped by individuals in ways that satisfy their social motivations. This notion was tested in the context of color-blind ideology. Color blindness, when construed as a principle of distributive justice, is an egalitarian stance concerned with reducing discrepancies between groups' outcomes; as a principle of procedural justice, however, color blindness can function as a legitimizing ideology that entrenches existing inequalities. In Study 1, White people high in antiegalitarian sentiment were found to shift their construal of color blindness from a distributive to a procedural principle when exposed to intergroup threat. In Studies 2, 3A, and 3B, the authors used manipulations and a measure of threat to show that antiegalitarian White people endorse color blindness to legitimize the racial status quo. In Study 3B, participants' endorsement of color-blind ideology was mediated by increases in their preference for equal treatment (i.e., procedural justice) as a response to threat. In the Discussion section, the authors examine implications of the present perspective for understanding the manner in which individuals compete over the meaning of crucial ideologies.