How people higher on social dominance orientation deal with hierarchy-attenuating institutions: the person-environment (mis)fit perspective in the grammar of hierarchies

Interweaving Social Dominance theory with Person-Environment (P-E) fit theory, the present study examines how people higher on social dominance orientation (SDO, i.e., those who generally favor group hierarchies and inequalities) can deal with belonging to institutions that culturally sustain group equality (i.e., hierarchy-attenuating institutions). We enrolled two cohorts of first year students majoring in social work (Sample 1, N=296; Sample 2, N=117), a typical hierarchy- attenuating setting. Participants’ belonging to a hierarchy-attenuating institution was primed before administering a self- report questionnaire for measuring the study’s variables. Results of mediation analyses showed that people higher in SDO experienced higher P-E misfit with the institution in both samples. In turn, P-E misfit was positively associated with the intention to leave the social work faculty and with a higher pro-self hierarchy-enhancing motivation (i.e., agreeing that “I am enrolled in a Social work faculty primarily to have more chances to gain money and success in the future”). These results show that people higher in SDO can deal with the dissonant condition of P-E misfit with a hierarchy-attenuating institution by leaving such institution (i.e., differential attrition process) and/or by adopting a framework for their pres- ence in a hierarchy-attenuating institution that aligns with their own’s socially dominant beliefs (i.e., motivational shaping process). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.