Social Dominance Orientation (Group-Based Dominance and Opposition to Equality)

What it measures

This scale scores Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, and Malle's (1994) 16-item Social Dominance Orientation measure as two related but separable factors rather than one. Group-based dominance captures support for some groups dominating and keeping other groups in their place, while opposition to equality captures resistance to equality and to equalising conditions between groups in general. Jost and Thompson (2000) proposed the split on theoretical grounds and confirmed it in confirmatory factor analyses with University of Maryland students in Studies 1 and 2, showing that the two factors relate differently to self-esteem, ethnocentrism, and social policy attitudes among African American and European American respondents. Opposition to equality, more than group-based dominance, predicted opposition to affirmative action and was linked to economic system justification and political conservatism.

Response format

11-point agreement scale (0 = disagree strongly, 5 = neither agree nor disagree, 10 = agree strongly)

Scale items

Group-based dominance

• Some groups of people are just more worthy than others. [1]
• In getting what your group wants, it is sometimes necessary to use force against other groups. [3]
• Superior groups should dominate inferior groups. [6]
• To get ahead in life, it is sometimes necessary to step on other groups. [8]
• If certain groups of people stayed in their place, we would have fewer problems. [9]
• It's probably a good thing that certain groups are at the top and other groups are at the bottom. [11]
• Inferior groups should stay in their place. [13]
• Sometimes other groups must be kept in their place. [16]

Opposition to equality

• It would be good if all groups could be equal. [2] (r)
• Group equality should be our ideal. [4] (r)
• All groups should be given an equal chance in life. [5] (r)
• We should do what we can to equalize conditions for different groups. [7] (r)
• Increased social equality would be a good thing. [10] (r)
• We would have fewer problems if we treated different groups more equally. [12] (r)
• We should strive to make incomes more equal. [14] (r)
• No one group should dominate in society. [15] (r)

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

The items are Pratto et al.'s (1994) 16 SDO items, used unchanged and in their original order; Jost and Thompson's (2000) contribution is the two-factor scoring and the evidence for it, supported by their own reliability and factor-analytic data. The opposition-to-equality items are worded in an egalitarian direction and are reverse-scored, so higher scores indicate stronger opposition to equality; subscale scores are item means. The correlated two-factor model fit better than a one-factor model in both studies (CFI = .908 vs .781 in Study 1; .895 vs .811 in Study 2). The factors correlated more strongly among European Americans (r = .69 and .77) than among African Americans (r = .47 and .66). Because positive versus negative wording coincides with the two factors in this version, Studies 3 and 4 used a reworded 'balanced' version, where reliabilities were lower (.73 to .81). Item numbers in brackets give the original order. For the later SDO7 scale, which formalises a similar dominance versus anti-egalitarianism split, see ID 381.

Citation

Jost, J. T., & Thompson, E. P. (2000). Group-based dominance and opposition to equality as independent predictors of self-esteem, ethnocentrism, and social policy attitudes among African Americans and European Americans. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(3), 209-232.

Keywords

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