My Kind of Guy: Social Dominance Orientation Predicts Tolerance of Job Candidate with Racist Past

Abstract

Although societal backlash tends to be directed against those who exhibit racist behavior, some people still act in racist ways and, to some extent, avoid social stigma. We propose this is possible because some people view racist behavior as relatively permissible on account of their anti-egalitarian attitudes (e.g., social dominance orientation (SDO)). In evaluating job candidates, our studies demonstrate that candidates with a racist past were tolerated more and had relatively greater hireability ratings as a function of perceivers’ SDO (Studies 1-3). Candidate race did not matter in these evaluations – only the hierarchy relevance of their actions did (i.e., whether the candidate’s behavior was hierarchy enhancing, hierarchy attenuating, or had no clear implication for the hierarchy; Study 2). Furthermore, job candidates with an anti-racist past (e.g., those who work against racism) were tolerated less and had lower hireability ratings as a function of perceivers’ SDO (Study 3). Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.