Social Dominance Theory: Americans and Brits

Nationality unites people in a way that other factors cannot. Being an American comes along with a lot of stereotypes but also a large amount of pride in America itself and its culture. While America and Americans obviously have issues with other nationalities, there is a certain type of clash that shows up when observing the differences between Americans and other native English speaking nationalities.

As I currently reside in Spain, I have run into more Brits than I can count on my two hands. This is perfectly logical as it makes more sense for the British to be in Spain than for Americans to be here simply due to obvious geographical facts. While I personally love getting to know people and cultures, it is always quite special when I end up in a room with both Americans and Brits. There are blaring signs of the social dominance theory whenever I find myself in this situation.

“Social dominance theory indicates that all individuals belong to groups and each group provides resources for the people that belong to that group.” (Penn State Notes). The two groups that can clearly be identified here are the Americans and the British. Even though the United States is an extremely large country, the main thing that bonds Americans abroad is simply the accent. Within seconds the difference between British and American citizens can be identified simply by having them open their mouths and say two words. The categories can be broken down a bit when we play into certain types of accents depending on geographical location within a country, but the overall group difference is already there. Accents bring up a bigger and somewhat testy theme: English.

I find that a large, controversial theme between British and Americans has to do with the language spoken in the countries and who speaks it better or more “correctly”. Both nationalities believe that they are in the right although history gives obvious evidence leaning towards a certain answer. However, this is a perfect example of the social dominance theory in which different groups are trying to be the “high-status group” and maintain the hierarchy that is created within their group.

Another factor that fuels this social dominance among the two groups is sports. The UK is home to the premier football league which is quite successfully and watched all over the world. On the other hand, the U.S. is home to the National Football League, which, while having its worldwide fame, gets teased a lot for being a league of, what we might call, “fake football.” In America, European football is known as “soccer” while in Europe it goes by the name of “football”. This theme is extremely common as sports are discussed amongst the two nationality groups.

A third topic that creates a barrier between the two groups is that of politics. This topic has grown even greater in the past few years because of the presidential election in the states a few years back. This leads to all sorts of discussion between the two political systems, which is better and why. As we all know, politics can be quite a tricky topic and can even ruin friendships.

In all of these situations, the different nationality groups stick to their kin because an individual’s background around these topics has been molded by their upbringing and cultural background. This strengthens the differences between the two groups and shows us the social dominance theory.

While in some situations this can be a negative version of the theory with one group trying to govern the monarchy and always be in the right, there are many situations where it is simply a playful version of the theory and the most harm done is the occasional hurt feeling.

  1. Social Dominance Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2019, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1973019/modules/items/25635697
  2. Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., & Levin, S. (n.d.). Social Dominance Theory and the dynamics of intergroup relations: Taking stock and looking forward. European Review of Psychology. Retrieved February 15, 2019, from http://blogs.sciences-po.fr/recherche-inegalites/files/2010/04/article-théorie-de-la-dominance.pdf

 

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