Orientation to social dominance: a psychological invariant in the legitimation of social inequality philosophies

Different theoretical approaches throughout history have tried to explain why societies establish ideologies that think intergroup relationships as unequal and hierarchical, and why it is accepted by individuals. Among the perspectives that deepened these philosophies of inequality are: functionalism and Marxism. Both visions are incomplete and focus on top-down models (thinking about the dynamics of society from top to bottom). At the same time different psychological theories, such as the theory of social identity, ideological cultural theory, the theory of system justification and the theory of realistic conflict, began to investigate the psychological factor in adherence to an ideology, turning the focus to bottom-up models. In recent years, the theory of social dominance, incorporates contributions from the aforementioned the aforementioned theories, and postulates that there is a desire of individuals to establish and maintain social hierarchies, through the subordination of certain groups to others. Although this phenomenon has been studied in different countries empirically, there is no evidence of works in Spanish that have carried out a comprehensive theoretical review. That is why the objective of this work will be to carry out a theoretical review on the SDT.