Social Hierarchies

Roth, Zachary C.; Rios, Kimberly

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_1833

Social Hierarchies

Zachary C. Roth³ &
Kimberly Rios³

Reference work entry
First Online: 22 April 2020

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Synonyms

Power structure; Social ranking; Stratification

Definition

Systems of social organization in which individuals are arranged by group status and have differential access to social and material resources.

Introduction

Social hierarchies are broadly defined as systems of social organization in which some individuals enjoy a higher social status than others (Sidanius and Pratto 1999) – specifically, in which people are stratified by their group membership (Axte et al. 2014; Jost et al. 2004; Sidanius and Pratto 1999). In socially stratified societies, high-status groups are afforded greater access to material and social resources relative to low-status groups, leading to differential opportunities and outcomes. For example, those with low status face more verbal harassment and physical assault (Katz-Wise and Hyde 2012), are discriminated against in employment decisions (Parker et al. 2016), and face harsher treatment by the criminal justice system (Wu 2016).

Theoretical...

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Authors and Affiliations

Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA
Zachary C. Roth & Kimberly Rios

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Zachary C. Roth
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Kimberly Rios
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Correspondence to Kimberly Rios .

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Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
Virgil Zeigler-Hill
Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
Todd K. Shackelford

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Roth, Z.C., Rios, K. (2020). Social Hierarchies. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_1833

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_1833
Published: 22 April 2020
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24610-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24612-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social Sciences