Re(Dis)covering Goffman: ‘Deference’ and ‘demeanour’ in a community café

Thomas, Gareth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4959-2337 2025. Re(Dis)covering Goffman: ‘Deference’ and ‘demeanour’ in a community café. The Sociological Review

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Abstract

Erving Goffman’s scholarship has been subject to intense critique in disability studies. Goffman’s account of ‘stigma’, in particular, is viewed as being antithetical to its driving principles, namely, to: depart from deficit configurations of disability; to define disability as embedded in rigid and oppressive social structures, and; to recognise more positive accounts of disability. In this article, I sketch out the value of Goffman’s work for understanding the social worlds of disabled people. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at a community café run by learning-disabled adults and non-disabled adults, I use Goffman’s (1956, 1967) neglected concepts of ‘deference’ and ‘demeanour’ to explore how learning-disabled adults are afforded respect, or not, in this space. I sketch out how mundane encounters – taking orders, making drinks, serving customers – are carefully accomplished in ways that accord deference to café team members. Deference rituals help to assert the humanity, contribution, and value of learning-disabled adults. Equally, I capture how customers, on occasion, do not act with deference, nor display ‘good’ demeanour. In such moments, their conduct – whereby team members are ignored, disregarded, or framed as charitable subjects – animates deficit scripts of disability. To conclude, I argue that Goffman’s insights provide the machinery for showing how learning-disabled adults’ interactions with (non-disabled) others must be central to an analysis of their lives.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	2754-1371
Funders:	British Academy
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 January 2025
Date of Acceptance:	8 January 2025
Last Modified:	28 Jan 2025 17:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/175091

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