The truth about “Sigma Males"

In wolf packs, there are different roles played by the different parts of it. An ‘alpha’ is the head of the wolf pack, and is the one who is the most commanding. They lead the pack on a hunt, they get the first meal, they are not to be challenged by those in lower ranks. Then, you have the ‘betas’, who are subordinate to the higher ranking alphas. They have to wait to eat, they also are less attractive to mates and follow the word of the alpha. Finally, there are the ‘omegas’, who are considered the weakest of the group. They are usually the fool, the one that likes to play and be the entertainment, and they are below even the betas when it comes to feeding. Whilst these terms are used in ethology to describe rankings in a typical animal grouping, it has now also been taken to describe behaviours of people, particularly in males. In 1982, dutch ethologist Frans de Waal described how these terms used to describe his chimp colonies could be applied to human social interaction. Following this, media companies began to use this term to describe “manly men”, or successful business men. It was used to describe Al Gore, the former US presidential candidate, in 1999, with him displaying ‘beta’ traits when he ought to have been more of an ‘alpha’. <a href="https://lewispearce.medium.com/the-truth-about-sigma-males-8955817800dd">Website</a>