Not sure, but I think the bad wolf study is the one that established the "alpha" bullshit. I have no idea about the erotica but the thing about bioessentialism is mocking the belief that humans and animals have fixed unchangeable characteristics... Such that a "weak" male will always be so, or some such crap.
The bad wolf study was the Alpha/Beta relationship of wolf packs that is wildly regarded as untrue.
The deranged erotica is people applying Alpha/Beta dynamics to random characters for the sake of creating fanfiction. I’m talking Mpreg and other deranged ramblings of sleep deprived tumblr fans.
Actual wolf packs are a family. One pair of adults plus their children. Until those are old enough, then they leave and search for a partner and own territory.
All the stuff you read about pack alphas, all the sociological pseudo-science about alpha behavior derived from it... that's all based on a one bullshit study about a large group of wolves artificially intoduced to a new area, that in no way behaved like wolves naturally do.
Basically the equivalent of putting a few dozen teen-age boys on an isolated island then studying their behavior to understand human society.
It's nice when humanity isn't the tragically disgusting thing we're often forcefully told it is.
(Usually as some way to justify State-enforced law and order via violence.)
seriously, the more you actually read up about human history and biology the more you see that we're just.. kinda fucking great, when we're not constantly torturing ourselves and trying to justify it like stockholm syndrome'd abuse victims.
Structure/meme format: like with the "dominoes", one seemingly small thing can lead to much bigger things happening
Context: the 1970 book "The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species" popularized the hypothesis of the alpha, beta, and omega wolf, which has birthed all sorts of toxic and stupid bullshit that has harmed many humans, pets (especially dogs), and other animals.
The author, David Mech, has since tried to get the publisher to stop selling his erroneous book and basically dedicated most of his career to educating people on how wrong his most influential work was.