Sociology Plus
Deferential Workers Definition
Deferential workers refer to individuals in employment relationships characterised by a personal bond between the employer and the workforce, rooted in the workers’ respect for their superior and the employer’s care for them. This deference extends beyond the workplace; it implies an expectation of deference from the workforce within the wider social sphere.
Origins and Identification
The concept was formally introduced by David Lockwood in his 1958 study, The Blackcoated Worker, while he investigated car workers at the British General Motors plant at Vauxhall. Lockwood examined how these workers perceived society, noting that some possessed deferential attitudes towards authority, which were linked to social origins and their reproduction through extended networks of social interaction. This patterning was determined by the dominant moral framework, which legitimises existing inequalities, causing subordinates to accept deference both from immediate authorities and the general social status order.
Worldview and Reproduction
Deferential workers operate under a worldview that perceives the social order as an organic entity where inequality is viewed as inevitable and just, and the individual’s position within this structure is largely fixed and unchangeable. This acceptance of hierarchy is expressed through the types of civil society constructed by these networks.
Significance
The idea of the deferential worker has since been widely applied to analyse the overlay of gender and ethnic relations onto the basic class model established by Lockwood.