Manners

Stephen Leonard

Every human society maintains itself through the regular interaction of its members. Those interactions take place within the framework of institutional arrangements of power and authority, social practices that structure everyday life, and systems of expression, or cultural forms, that give ways of life meaning and purpose. But it is the patterns of behavior that define the relationships between the individuals involved in different institutions, practices, and cultural forms that support—or undermine—those arrangements. These patterns of behavior are the subject of manners, and they are important for social inquiry for reasons that go well beyond the fact that matters of manners touch on every aspect of our lives. This is plainly evident when we consider that for all of us the earliest, most significant, often repeated, and regularly reinforced lessons we learn are about how to behave. These lessons continue throughout our lives: We are constantly reminded of what proper ...

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