One of the more interesting elements of the coronavirus pandemic has been the cultural response to the both the virus itself, and the lockdown measures imposed to slow the spread of the virus.  Asian cultures appear to have done better, with some arguing that this is because culturally these cultures are more deferential to authority.

It’s a suggestion that supposes that deference to authority is somewhat ingrained within us by the constant drip feed of our cultural environment.  New research from UCLA suggests it is, in fact something somewhat more malleable than that.

The researchers worked with both administrative staff in the United States and textile workers in China, and discovered that involving those staff in democratic meetings that resulted in meaningful change significantly altered how those staff felt about justice, authority, and participation.

Changing mindsets

In the Chinese factory, volunteers were recruited to participate in a group exercise, with each person playing a distinct role in the group.  Before the start of the exercise, the groups had a short meeting with their supervisor, who told them the strategy for the group, the work they would have to do, and the goals for each individual.

Half of the groups engaged in this task attended a weekly meeting in which the participants were encouraged to get actively involved in the discussions, and talk about their experiences at work, how the tasks were doing, and so on.  The supervisors were not allowed to participate in the meetings, at the end of which, the workers announced their goals for the week ahead.  The other groups continued as normal, with meetings run by the supervisors, with no worker participation at all.

Four weeks after the experiment ended, a survey was sent to all participants in order to measure their feelings towards authority.  This included their belief in a just world, their deference to authority, and participation in activities outside of work.  The results suggest that there was a slight preference towards obedience to authority across the group, but there was also a clear divide between those who had been allowed to participate in the group meetings, and those who had not.  Those in the participatory groups were also more likely to report conflict between managers and workers, and indeed to believe in a ‘just’ world, and they even reported being more likely to participate in political life outside of work.

In the American part of the research, the administrative staff were typically not deferring to authority upon their entry into the experiment, but as with the Chinese group, those in the participatory condition ended up with lower respect for authority at the end of the experiment than their peers in the control groups.

The results suggest that deference to authority is not an unmovable characteristic, but instead something quite malleable with the right interventions.  The researchers note that the reduction in deference seemed to endure, with low levels still recorded a month after the experiments ended.