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Social Hierarchy Maintenance and Assortment into Social Roles: A Social Dominance Perspective

University of California, Los Angelessidanius{at}psych.ucla.edu

Colette van Laar

Leiden University

Shana Levin

Claremont McKenna College

Stacey Sinclair

University of Virginia

Using vocational choice and social dominance theories as organizing frameworks, and employing data from a five-wave longitudinal study of undergraduates, we explored the relationship between generalized anti-egalitarianism, on the one hand, and the choice of hierarchy-enhancing (HE) and hierarchy-attenuating (HA) college majors and future careers on the other hand. Consistent with theoretical expectations, the data showed that students with high levels of anti-egalitarianism were more likely to choose HE college majors and future careers, while students with relatively low levels of generalized anti-egalitarianism were more likely to choose HA college majors and future careers. Congruent students (high antiegalitarianism/HE majors and low anti-egalitarianism/HA majors) enjoyed greater academic success, and greater expectations of academic success than incongruent students (high antiegalitarianism/HA majors and low anti-egalitarianism/HE majors). Finally, we explored three processes possibly responsible for the congruence between anti-egalitarianism and career path: (1) self-selection, (2) institutional socialization, and (3) differential success/differential attrition. The results only showed support for self-selection mechanisms.

Key Words: anti-egalitarianism • career–attitude congruence • political socialization

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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sidanius, J. Articles by Sinclair, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?