Deference in Competition: Deference Dynamics in Social Contests

Social contests are time- and space-delimited containers of competition. Theory suggests—and society depends upon—the deference of lower-status actors to their higher-status opponents once having lost a contest. However, status difference between actors and their opponents does not exhaust the competitive content in a specific contest. We theorize that when contest-losing actors categorize their relationship with an opponent as adversarial beyond the current contest and may obtain some contest-specific gains independent of the focal encounter, they will not defer as much as expected. Advanced analyses of unique data from Formula One racing strongly support these expectations. Our findings contribute to research on deference, competition, and linkages between micro- and macro- explanations of social polarization and violence.