My Kind of Guy: Social Dominance Orientation, Hierarchy-Relevance, and Tolerance of Racist Job Candidates

Social psychology suggests that racism, as captured by explicit prejudice and racial discrimination, is perceived negatively in the United States. However, considering the hierarchy-enhancing nature of racism, it may be that negative perceptions of racism are attenuated among perceivers high in anti-egalitarian sentiment. The reported studies support this, suggesting that racist candidates were tolerated more and had relatively greater hireability ratings as a function of perceivers' social dominance orientation (SDO; Studies 1-4). Candidate race did not impact these evaluations-only the hierarchy relevance of their actions did (i.e., whether the candidate's behavior was hierarchy enhancing or had no clear implication for the hierarchy; Study 2). Furthermore, anti-racist candidates (e.g., those displaying hierarchy-attenuating behavior) were tolerated less and had lower hireability ratings as a function of perceivers' SDO (Study 3). Finally, the perceived intentionality of the candidate's actions affected tolerance toward them as a function of SDO. This suggests hierarchy relevance impacts evaluative outcomes.