Previous
Shelby County v. Holder
Social dominance orientation is the preference for social hierarchy over equality, based on the belief that some groups are inherently better than others. Sociologist Kirsti M. Jylhä argues that white Americans’ high level of social dominance orientation helps explain their opposition to climate change policy: even if they believe that climate change will harm people, they think that they it won’t harm them because they are at the top of the social hierarchy.
Get the entire The Sum of Us LitChart as a printable PDF.
Social Dominance Orientation Term Timeline in The Sum of Us
The timeline below shows where the term Social Dominance Orientation appears in The Sum of Us. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 8: The Same Sky
...who lives in Sweden, finds that one strong predictor of global warming denial is “ social dominance orientation ”—or believing that social hierarchies exist because some groups are just naturally superior to others....
(full context)
...Coming from Sweden, she also finds the U.S.’s widespread poverty surprising. McGhee points out that social dominance orientation is strong in the U.S.—zero-sum thinking is normal, and hatred and neglect for the poor...
(full context)
