Alpha strength vs. self-government: How important are 'alpha males' in today´s society?
In wildlife the 'alpha lion' does lead his pride of lions, not caring if two bosses might lead the group even better. However among human beings splitting power is very common.
Self-government and shared responsabilites are characteristic of our modern society. Equality of status, rights, gender, ... well equality in general has become very popular, and 'alpha males' are threatened with extinction.
The question is: if the members of our society tend to be led by themselves, do we still need alpha strength?
PRO: The fascination of 'alpha males' - a classic role model
'Human lions': What defines these top dogs in emergent human male hierarchies? Why do women want them and men want to be like them?
Who is able to become the next U.S. President? Who amoung the job candidates will be given the leadership position? Who decides at which pub the group is going to have some beers tonight? In many day-to-day situations a single person decides, solves problems or shows the group which way to follow.
Alpha males usually have personalities that exhibit high ambition and rigidity. These 'human lions' are very organized, impatient, proactive, anxious, focused on status, emotionally sensitive and concerned with time management.
We just need to think of previous U.S. presidents, such as John F. Kennedy. People intrinsically knew that man was an alpha the moment he walked into a room.
Being alpha means no need to demonstrate being an alpha. A leader´s assertiveness is based on an unbeatable confidence, and confidence is gained by experience.
Alpha males are inspiring!
If we had seen leadership and dominance as a way of motivation, alpha males could be defined as perfect sources of inspiration. They are able to:
- create a vision for the long term
- inspire themselves and others
- develop people and their strengths
- ask (even uncomfortable) questions to proceed, including why?
- model desired behaviors
- challenge other people to reach new heights
CON: Why 'alpha males' have become unpopular
In a modern society where 'freedom of speech', 'equality' and 'self-government' rule, classic 'alpha males' are having hard times. In a world where everybody´s voice is heard and people stop believing in the need of institutions, establishment and government, it seems that 'leaders' are losing their reputation.
Leaders are dominant characters, and in today´s society people don´t accept 'over the top behaviors'. In fact, dominance has kind of gotten a considerable bad raputation because it has been assigned to aggressive and inappropriate male behaviors.
If we believed some recent studies, the concept of an exclusive, dominant alpha male seems to be obsolete.
Scott DeRue (Management Investigator, Universtiy of Michigan): 'Leadership has to allocate clearly defined rules and tasks to every individual of a certain group and organize the community. However, if only one leader or a whole group managed the group, doesn´t have any importance. Even a rotation amoung bosses doesn´t suppose to have a negative impact on the results.'
Any time there is a general reconfiguration of roles, status, religion, or any other bedrock of our society´s organization, that 'reset' is going to bring a backlash. That seems to be what is going on at the moment.
Given that a lot of the ideas that drive the 'alpha male archetype' have been around for decades, it is quite unrealistic to expect that they will completely disappear soon.
The most likely outcome is not some mass enlightenment where the whole world suddenly realizes it has moved past that leadership concept. But the classic alpha male role model will suffer and be constantly ignored.
Since society´s usually develop in waves, there could be a backwards trend towards the traditional alpha model in the long run.
In the end what matters are results. Sometimes the concentrated power of alpha males are the most effective solution to a group or community - not because they are alpha males, but even though. We all know these day-to-day situations when the alpha raises their voice and pushes the rest of the group towards the right direction. A leader doesn´t have to be just a dominant ruler, they can also be an inspiring and motivating coach.
I hope you enjoyed the read and would be happy to get your comments on it.
Cheers,
Marly -
The man that spends most of his time making sure everyone sees how confident he is ... really shows a lack of confidence.
Yip, agreed :-) Thanks for the comment @vegascomic!
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There are different alpha personalities, some good, some bad. IMO, a good leader inspires others to follow; a bad leader bullies and pushes.
Absolutely! That goes in the same line as the comment made by @stevescoins.
Thanks for your voice :)
Interesting post because there seems to be philosophical trend to try to minimize the role of dominant leaders (i wouldn't necessarily restrict to male, but i know that has historical precedent), but i don't think most peoples' actions (or voting preferences!) match. People still seems just as prone to followership as ever.
Thank you, @finpunk!
Obviously 'leadership' is not restricted to men. 'Alpha male' is a common term, we could also call it 'alpha people'. But I am generally not a huge fan of this kind of debate around wordings - that´s for the feminists :-)
lol yes didn't mean to step down that trail...
I know ;-))
I might have OCD or something, but every time I see a ´instead of ', I go >.<
:P
(don´t ≠ don't)
edit: this comment has nothing to do with the content of the article, just the one thing I noticed. :)
Maybe I have a disease, too. Cause I have no idea what you are talking about, hahaha
If you translated that into another language I would appreciate it a lot ;-)
Which languages do you speak? xP
Haha, I just meant the apostrophe thing.
example:
don´t
don't
don`t
In German I would call you a 'Korinthenkacker' now.
If you are able to spell that, I will forgive you LOL
Haha, I think I heard that word from @lenatramper's videos once. :D
Isn´t it @lenatramper´s with the ´?
:-D
LOL! I have no excuse. :D:D
Women are more attracted to assertive males; the most assertive males are considered "dominant", although HOW that is expressed varies by culture.
Very few women are going to be attracted to milquetoasts or pajama boys in any culture.
It's not that women can't be assertive; again, the ways that women assert themselves, or assume leadership roles in all-female groups, can be (is usually) different than the ways men use.
We have different biochemicals running through our brains, we have different fun-bits, we have different sexual strategies (one characteristic of this is that women are more attracted to assertive males), and we have a evolutionary history of behavior. All these factors combine in a result:
Men tend towards leadership of society as a whole; this doesn't mean that women can't do it. For the most part, there doesn't tend to be much difference in how any given leader, regardless of fun-bits, rules. On the other hand, a prevailing culture does make a difference...we can see how both the "leaders" and the followers of ISIS treat women, for example.
Great article, Marley!
Thanks for the detailed reply and your kind words, @stevescoins!!
Obviously women can be assertive, too, and they are. However, I am not a big fan of these feminist debates around gender equality in excecutive positions. You mentioned biological differences between men and women and I strongly believe that especially these differences are good reasons why we have (still) more alpha males than alpha females. I am a girl and I am in a leadership position, but I had to work hard for it. Not every lady is willing to fight that way, and I believe that it´s totally OK. Women just have to accept that a forced and not naturally evolved equality doesn´t lead to happiness in the long term. I am talking about leadership positions and not about equality in a sense of human rights (referring to your comment regarding ISIS) - obviously it is not acceptable to treat women differently than men when it comes to their dignity as a human being.
If I don´t stop now, I´ll text another article here :-) It´s a super interesting and always 'trendy' topic! More to be written and discussed soon...!
hey, if I can get you to post another blog, I've done my job today ;>
I'm in agreement with everything you said.
some surveys have shown that American women are less happy today than 20 years ago; I don't think that it's the equal opportunity that they have achived that causes this, it's the demand for male ..submission?... to the 3rd wave feminist movement. Those males that succumbed to that have created a shortage in the population of men that women want!
Sometimes I wish I was living these 20 to 30 years ago to be honest. The generation of my parents seems to be much more established in that sense. I know there will be a LOT of women hating me for that, but I strongly believe in the success of clear role models - both in professional and private life.
I posted another blog, but it didn´t really touch the same topic.....:-P
There are going to be plenty of guys that haven't fallen for that nonsense. but they are not likely to be middle or upper class; so it's kind of a trade-off IF you're looking for a life-partner with those values.
But I used to "fall in love" and get stupid over women too quickly up to a few years ago; got my heart broke a few times.
Than I saw a line from Malcolm in the Middle that really redefined things for me after I thought about it; the base of any successful intimate relation is sex.
That makes sense to me; one of our basic drives is reproduction, so if you don't have a happy sex life, you aren't likely to be happy. I don't think that means serial boinking, but it does mean knowing what you're looking for, and understanding how to get it.
Ya know, I just assumed that you were talking about finding the right guy from your comment. You could have meant something else...oops ;>
I´ve already found one (after having broken my heart several times, too, so I know what you mean :-)).
Thanks for your open mind!
Alpha males have become unpopular because decades of systematic feminism has taught people that to be a male is to be toxic.
However, alphas are only unpopular on the surface, since women still wish to mate with them, they just don't always know it.
Haha, that´s my favourite reply of all :-)
I hope they still know it, although not visibly - for the reasons you mentioned.