Dominance, status, and social hierarchies. (original) (raw)

Social living confers both costs and benefits to individuals. The costs are increased competition for food, shelter, mates, and the like. The benefits are increased access to these resources. The social structure that characterizes most animal societies (including humans) is status hierarchies. A status hierarchy is, essentially, a set social norms, that is, rules that constrain the behavior of individuals depending on their rank. In human societies, these may be implicit or explicitly codified as regulations or laws. In animal societies, these "social norms" are implicit yet reflected in virtually every activity, including who is allowed to sit next to, play with, share food with, groom, or mate with whom. In it's most benign form, social dominance means nothing more than the fact that some individuals are more adept at influencing and therefore leading others. In it's most malignant form, social dominance can mean despotism--the monopolization of resources by a privileged few who use their social advantages to oppress others. Investigations of social interactions in a variety of species suggests that dominance hierarchies are supported by a collection of specific cognitive functions, and that those who achieve dominance are those who are particularly adept at them. To put it more baldly, selection favors those who have social and political intelligence. This turns out to mean (a) being adept at learning the implicit rules that constrain behavior in one’s social group and monitoring compliance with them, (b) forecasting and influencing the behavior of others, and (c) forming powerful alliances based on reciprocal obligations.