Group dominance involves competition for moral hegemony, not just material resources.

Evidence

Although belief systems that promote group dominance often lead to perceived competition over tangible resources, in the context of relations with immigrants, high social dominance oriented individuals not only perceive zero-sum competition for resources such as jobs and power, they also perceive zero-sum competition for value dominance (Esses et al., 2003). Thus, it seems that group dominance is not only a matter of having wealth and power, but of having moral hegemony. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1502

Dominant group members are especially likely to be high in Social Dominance Orientation and to hold a belief in zero-sum competition between groups because it is in their interests to maintain the hierarchy (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999; Duckitt, ch. 24 this volume). These zero-sum beliefs mediate the relation between Social Dominance Orientation and negative attitudes toward outgroups, particularly outgroups seen to be succeeding in society (Esses et al., 1998, 2001; Esses, Hodson, & Dovidio, 2003). Although belief systems that promote group dominance often lead to perceived competition over tangible resources, in the context of relations with immigrants, high social dominance oriented individuals not only perceive zero-sum competition for resources such as jobs and power, they also perceive zero-sum competition for value dominance (Esses et al., 2003). Thus, it seems that group dominance is not only a matter of having wealth and power, but of having moral hegemony. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1502

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘moral panic’ and status-competition framing from earlier passages on how groups compete over values and identity, not just resources. — connects to: When two human groups compete, the advantaged one maintains dominance through oppression — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 151; Claims of sacred land ownership secure one group’s dominance over others — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 120
• SEED: An essay angle: dominance struggles are as much about moral authority as economic position — how perceived value-competition drives anti-immigrant sentiment more than job competition.
• QUESTION: The zero-sum ‘value dominance’ claim suggests contact with immigrants may fail precisely when groups compete over who holds moral truth rather than jobs — worth chasing how contact interventions handle that.
• DEEPTHINKING: Reframing outgroup prejudice as competition for moral hegemony, not tangible resources, is a genuinely paradigm-shifting complement to resource-competition accounts of conflict.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1502; , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1502