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Debunking the “Alpha Male” Myth: What Wolves Really Teach Us About Social Hierarchies
A Scientific Look at Wolf Packs, Family Dynamics, and the Problem with the ‘Alpha’ Mindset
It’s difficult to find a corner of the internet more insufferable than the “alpha men” community. Boisterous and aggressive by definition, this group gathers together to take pride in a certain sort of masculinity that often causes folks like myself to instinctively place a hand over the drink I’m holding.
These groups are now widespread across the internet. Those who ascribe to this personality type, are particularly loud about their personality type and often permeate other internet subcultures. Even from my notably queer, nerdy, and neurodivergent feed, I still cross paths with this sort of rhetoric fairly frequently. I doubt, too, that I’m the only one not involved that’s subject to this particular brand of folk.
This group, however, and those who enjoy the other sorts of “male personality types” (sigma, omega, beta, etc.), like to differentiate themselves from other personality subcultures, claiming that their personality types are science-backed unlike those they claim are “new-age” or “debunked”. They point to a certain wolf study by David Mech in the seventies, a famous study by a well-known and respected ecologist who has spent his life studying mammalian social dynamics.
Here’s the catch, though: the science that developed the idea of alpha, beta, and other types of males isn’t any better than the other personality vehicles they criticize. Within the animal behavioral science community, it is considered wholly scientifically inaccurate and based on a flawed view of social hierarchies.
TLDR; Wolves don’t work like that, and neither do we.
The Origins of the “Alpha Wolf” Concept
The idea of an “alpha wolf” is attributed to ecologist David Mech in 1971. His article that ignited the idea, published in the Journal of Mammalogy, covered nearly every aspect of wolf behavior: from diseases they experience to their interactions with humans and prey animals. The comprehensive text on wolves became very popular amongst scientists and even became well-loved…
