BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

Deference has fared somewhat better, although it has been subject to a
number of qualifications and conflicting interpretations.27
accepted.
For the purposes of this thesis, Newby's definition will be
The origins of deference lay in the process of
legitimation whereby factual matters of power become
imbued with evaluative overtones--not only did the
squire rule the village but it was believed he ought to
do so. 28
McKenzie's and Silver's distinction between deferential and
secular working class Conservatives is also useful, although the terms
might equally be applied to explain the basis of middle class support
for the party.
The deferential voter was one who favored the Tories
out of a belief that their privileged backgrounds vis-a-vis that of
27 Perhaps the most critical assessment of deference was
provided by Dennis Kavanagh in "The Deferential English: A Comparative
Critique," Government and Opposition vol. 6, no. 3 (May, 1971), pp.
333, 342, 347, 359-60. The article dismisses the term outright as
ambiguous and not easily applicable to circumstances it purports to
explain. Somewhat less condemnatory is Jessop's study which expands
the distinction provided by McKenzie and Silver of Deferentials and
Seculars to include two additional factors: social and cultural
influences. However, these might easily be encompassed within
McKenzie's and Silver's framework. Bob Jessop, Traditionalism,
Conservatism and British Political Culture (London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1974), pp. 34-35.
Newby provides perhaps the most incisive revisionist approach,
building on existing studies to provide a means of taking into account
dialectical change and the distinction between deferential attitudes
and behavior. H. Newby, "The Deferential Dialectic," Comparative
Studies in Society and History, vol. 17, no. 2 (April, 1975), pp. 139­
64. His concepts are applied to his study of East Anglia farm workers
in The Deferential Worker (London: Allen Lane, 1977). Finally, Patrick
Joyce in Work, Society and Politics examines deference with respect to
"politics from below," studying the "culture of the factory" in order
to explain the prevalence of popular conservatism in Lancashire. See
Chapter Three, pp. 90-133.
28 Newby, The Deferential Worker, p. 48.