Social hierarchies and social networks in humans

Across species, social hierarchies are often governed by dominance relations. In humans, where there are multiple culturally valued axes of distinction, social hierarchies can take a variety of forms and need not rest on dominance relations. Consequently, humans navigate multiple domains of status, i.e. relative standing. Importantly, while these hierarchies may be constructed from dyadic interactions, they are often more fundamentally guided by subjective peer evaluations and group perceptions. Researchers have typically focused on the distinct elements that shape individuals’ relative standing, with some emphasizing individual-level attributes and others outlining emergent macro-level structural outcomes. Here, we synthesize work across the social sciences to suggest that the dynamic interplay between individual-level and meso-level properties of the social networks in which individuals are embedded are crucial for understanding the diverse processes of status differentiation across groups. More specifically, we observe that humans not only navigate multiple social hierarchies at any given time but also simultaneously operate within multiple, overlapping social networks. There are important dynamic feedbacks between social hierarchies and the characteristics of social networks, as the types of social relationships, their structural properties, and the relative position of individuals within them both influence and are influenced by status differentiation. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

In-group and Out-group: Dynamics of the «Russia – West» Social Distance Online and Offline

The article reveals a theoretical and empirical study of the social distance symbolic scale expressing “in-group” – “out-group” perceptions, expressed in the oppositions “Russia” – “West”, “Russian men – Western men”. According to our observations, the opposition has a negative connotation, which is expressed in a system of geopolitical and mental biases. Through systematic analysis of the geopolitical and mental distancing phenomenon, a complementary system for evaluating individual and collective representations of Russian-speaking respondents in real and virtual spaces is proposed. The authors conducted a controlled Internet survey of 600 people based on a quota sample by gender, age, and level of education; the structure of the sample allowed for a comparative study in the form of a nonreactive study within10 largest ethnic Russian communities of the social network “VKontakte”. As a result of a comprehensive study, it is established, in particular, that the opposition “Russia – West” is unchanged in the historical perspective from 1995 to 2020 and shows negative dynamics, over time acquiring the traits of an increasingly tough confrontation. Economic perceptions of the West’s attitude towards Russia are replaced mainly by the geopolitical perception of relations, due to the dominant “power” attitudes of the survey participants. As it turned out on an empirical level, the system of traditional values inherent in Russian society is opposed to Western postmodern values, and the image of the state at the level of value representations directly correlates with the image of the people, whose perception, along with geopolitics, is influenced by various cultural norms that distinguish Russians from Europeans. The gender and age characteristics of the survey participants determine the content of the answers to a minimal extent, which indirectly indicates the integrity of the image of the West at the level of the national identity of Russians.

The Power of Black Panther to Affect Group Perceptions: Examining the Relationships Between Narrative Engagement, Narrative Influence, and Perceived Vitality of African Americans

Marvel’s Black Panther (2018) offered much discussion about the role of an entertainment narrative to influence moviegoing audience’s perceptions about African, African American, and Black experiences. Generally, entertainment narratives allow people to imagine themselves as different people, part of different worlds, and sometimes even living in different timeframes. By providing different perspectives, they can provide opportunities for understanding of and improved perceptions of others. The strength of these perspectives resides with the strength of the story’s ability to engage. The present study examines how engagement with the film’s narrative may be associated with perceived vitality of African Americans, and how this relationship may be mediated by the influence audiences perceive the narrative to have on others. The study provides two key findings. Generally, narrative engagement is associated with perceived vitality, through the perceived influence of the narrative on white audiences but not Black audiences. These associations seem to be driven by Black respondents, however, for White respondents, the associations are present when considering the narrative’s influence on Black audiences.

Social Hierarchy and Social Networks in Humans

Across species, social hierarchies are often governed by dominance relations. In humans, where there are multiple culturally-valued axes of distinction, social hierarchies can take a variety of forms and need not rest on dominance relations. Consequently, humans navigate multiple domains of status, i.e., relative standing. Importantly, while these hierarchies may be constructed from dyadic interactions, they are often more fundamentally guided by subjective peer evaluations and group perceptions. Researchers have typically focused on the distinct elements that shape individuals’ relative standing, with some emphasising individual-level attributes and others outlining emergent macro-level structural outcomes. Here, we synthesise work across the social sciences to suggest that the dynamic interplay between individual-level and meso-level properties of the social networks in which individuals are embedded are crucial for understanding the diverse processes of status differentiation across groups. More specifically, we observe that humans not only navigate multiple social hierarchies at any given time, but also simultaneously operate within multiple, overlapping social networks. There are important dynamic feedbacks between social hierarchies and the characteristics of social networks, as the types of social relationships, their structural properties, and the relative position of individuals within them both influence and are influenced by status differentiation.

PERCEPTION OF CORONAVIRUS AS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT AND CONFORMANCE WITH SOCIAL DISTANCE PROTOCOL

The study assesses perception of coronavirus as an existential and conformance to social distance among citizens in Benue state. A total of 343 participants comprised of 187(54.5%) males and 157(45.8%) females. Participants responded to a self-developed questionnaire which has a Cronbach alpha coefficient was.76. The study was a correlational research design. Results, shows there is a significant positive correlation between conformists’ perception of coronavirus as an existential threat and conformance to social distance, r (343) = .559, p< .0.01 for hypothesis one. There was a negative correlation between oppositional group perceptions of coronavirus as an existential threat and conformance to social distance, r (343) = -.175, p< .0.01 for hypothesis two. Hypothesis three shows there is a significant difference in the perception of coronavirus as an existential threat and conformance to social distance between conformists score (M=12.7360, SD=2.39721) and oppositional score (M=16.0242, = 3.03586), t (341) = -7.012, p< .05). A significant difference was also observed in the perception of coronavirus as an existential threat and conformance to social distance between the male scores of (M=14.3520, SD=4.47642) and female scores of (M=14.5137, SD= 4.84979), t (323) = -3.312, p< .05). Findings from this study show that, coronavirus is an existential threat to human life. Nevertheless, people differed in their attitude to conformance to social distance protocol. The peoples’ view of coronavirus and response to social distance should help to deepen government and health managers understanding to strengthen health policy and measures on disease control in future outbreaks.

Socialization of Efforts to Increase Environmental Awareness in Pangambatan Village as A Tourist Attraction in Karo Regency

This service aims to provide environmental care socialization in Pangambat village. As a tourist village, Pangambaten village has problems in dealing with environmental challenges related to environmental cleanliness, so there is a need to educate and inform the community about environmental problems. One of the commitments of the international community and government in protecting the earth from pollution and damage is through the implementation of Environmental Education, which is the key to preparing people with knowledge, expertise, values ​​and a caring attitude so that they can actively participate in solving environmental problems. The counseling on environmental care in this service program is intended as an initial step in building a character that cares about the environment in the community. This service was carried out in Pangambaten, Tanah Karo Regency, North Sumatra Province. This service is carried out in two methods, namely the interactive presentation method. This service activity is carried out in the following stages: 1) Equalization of Community Group Perceptions, 2) Group coaching, 3) Counseling on understanding about fostering environmental concern for environmental cleanliness by reviving the tradition of mutual cooperation.

‘Big Interdisciplinarity’: Unsettling and Resettling Excellence

This paper analyses differences in group perceptions amongst a large international and multi-disciplinary research community. It is a cluster of excellence with the explicit aim of bringing natural sciences and humanities together in joint experiments. Who wins, when disciplinary borders fall? The article discusses the moment of the appearance of the cluster on the grounds of a thorough analysis of the notions of interdisciplinarity, excellence and the recent history of European research policy. This empirical study of the forms of knowledge, practices and behaviours that intersect with differences of cultures, disciplines and gender in this community is part of self-reflexive structures that were installed within the cluster research on research practices. The results show that this new form of structure of ‘big interdisciplinarity’ offers the formation of new (collaborative) identities to those involved. New forms of group minority and majority understandings emerge, which, in contrast to the expectation of the cluster at the beginning don’t seem to advantage usually disadvantaged identities in science.