Wolves in sheep's clothing: Sdo asymmetrically predicts perceived ethnic victimization among white and latino students across three years

Lotte Thomsen, Eva G.T. Green, Arnold K. Ho, Shana Levin, Colette van Laar, Stacey Sinclair, Jim Sidanius

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dominant groups have claimed to be the targets of discrimination on several historical occasions during violent intergroup conflict and genocide.The authors argue that perceptions of ethnic victimization among members of dominant groups express social dominance motives and thus may be recruited for the enforcement of group hierarchy. They examine the antecedents of perceived ethnic victimization among dominants, following 561 college students over 3 years from freshman year to graduation year. Using longitudinal, cross-lagged structural equation modeling, the authors show that social dominance orientation (SDO) positively predicts perceived ethnic victimization among Whites but not among Latinos, whereas victimization does not predict SDO over time. In contrast, ethnic identity and victimization reciprocally predicted each other longitudinally with equal strength among White and Latino students. SDO is not merely a reflection of contextualized social identity concerns but a psychological, relational motivation that undergirds intergroup attitudes across extended periods of time and interacts with the context of group dominance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)225-238
Number of pages14
JournalPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume36
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology

Keywords

  • Ethnic identity
  • Ideological asymmetry hypothesis
  • Legitimizing myths
  • Perceived ethnic victimization
  • Social dominance

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