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meanings. He argued for two concepts of dominance: 1) domination based on the forceful
imposition of will and 2) integration based on cooperative leadership.
in 1981, Ray objected anew that dominance was being confounded with other concepts.
He argued that authoritarianism (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950)
represents socially disapproved aggressive dominance, that assertiveness (Lorr & Moore, 1980)
represents socially approved non-aggressive dominance, and that dominance as Coto!
(Jackson, 1967/1984) is neutral to social approval or disapproval. Most recently, Van de Sande
(1982) reviewed 17 scales of dominance and found high convergent validity (r =.60) but different
patterns of correlation, and concluded that the scales were measuring different constructs.
Psychologists, including personality theorists, have typically considered dominance to be
a trait or construct referent to the individual. However, it is important to be aware that
dominance has social explanations as well, which may become confounded with personality
trait explanations. For example, Gough, McClosky and Meehl (1951) developed a scale for
dominance in which the instructions ran to five paragraphs defining dominance as assertive
leadership, contrasting it to being submissive and to being domineering, and asking the
subjects not to confuse it with their appreciation of social leadership or with the prestige, power
and control that accrues to those in certain social positions.
Simmel (1971) argued that dominance is not based just on personal characteristics, but
on the circumstances of office and on socially tendered prestige. He was particularly
concerned that personality theorists not overlook the role of the subordinate:
Relationships of superordination and subordination play an immense role in social life. It
is therefore of the utmost importance for its analysis to clarify the spontaneity and
co-efficiency of the subordinate subject and thus to correct their minimization by
superficial notions about them. (Simmel, 1971, p. 98)
Arguments that dominance is a reciprocal relationship have been formalized by Emerson
(1962) in his analysis of equations representing A’s power over B (Pab) as necessarily equal to
B’s dependence on A (Dba). Power relations are balanced if Pab = Dba = Dab = Pba = Pab.
Balance does not neutralize power relationships. Dominance occurs if there is imbalance, as
when Pab = Dba > Dab = Pba < Pab. Emerson argued that balance can be achieved by B's
withdrawal, by B extending the power network for alternate resources to attain goals blocked
by A, by B controlling A’s access to status, or by B forming a coalition with others to overpower
A. This analysis of power relations was substantiated by Snowdon’s (1983) review of animal
literature on dominance relationships, including the formation of coalitions, the liabilities of