Date of Award
Spring 2006
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Associate of Arts
Department
Rhetoric & Comm Studies
Abstract
The idea of social rank-ordering (indicative of status. dominance. or potential leadership capacity) was first extensively researched by Robert F. Bales in the early I 950's. Bales shaped group communication around the principle that groups inevitably evolve into unequal power structures and develop a hierarchy of participation and status (Bales et. al, 1951 ). This hierarchy is evident in many different areas of life, such as social interactions, socio-economic status, and task-related rank, and the idea of dominance is established early on in life. From 1961, when Gellert observed dyads of 4- to 6- year-old children and found that a stable pattern of dominance and submission was established, to 2005 when Jose Munez's research asserted that social hierarchies exist even in preschoolers' playgroups, research has consistently identified a natural human tendency toward the hierarchisation beginning in our social interactions.
Recommended Citation
White, Angie B., "Social hierarchy in leaderless groups" (2006). Honors Theses. 275.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/275