Status of public sector employees : the applicability of the Social Dominance Theory as basis for an analysis of social hierarchies

Abstract

Numerous scholars have debated the reasons why status in individual and organisational behaviour deserves attention as well as how status is socially constructed. Scholars such as Gould (2002:1143) are of the opinion that the importance of the manifestation of status is a result of the social and institutional factors that guide inter-subjective evaluations that lead to difference in status orderings. Other scholars might argue that status can be determined by an individual’s position within his/her social circles (Pearce 2011:27). In this article the term “status” refers to an individual’s or group’s prestige or honour as well as an individual’s claim to respect and compliance in relations with others (Weber 1968 and Blau 1964 in Pearce 2011:25). Status may not necessarily be associated with the qualities that an individual might have, but the emergence of an individual’s status is formed by the social process of inter-subjective evaluation. This article will elaborate on the applicability of the Social Dominance Theory (and the Social Dominance Orientation Scale) to analyse the manifestation of status as a result of the operation of group-based social hierarchies in the South African public sector. Sidanius and Pratto (1999:38) are of the opinion that the Social Dominance Theory draws on a wide range of disciplines and theories in social sciences and highlight the kinds of status hierarchies that exist on the basis of age, gender and other criteria such as ethnicity. When applying the aforementioned theory and scale, the emphasis should be on studying status hierarchies based on ascribed criteria, rather than earned criteria.