Benet Davetian - Civility: A Cultural History

Benet Davetians Civility will take you on a compelling social and psychological journey through the history of civility, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Essential reading for anyone interested in international standards and customs of courtesy, Davetians perspective on the cross-cultural impact of civility practices is not only thorough and insightful, but also encouragingly optimistic.

Louise Fox, etiquette coach and director of The Etiquette Leader

Benet Davetians magisterial yet highly readable study forms a worthy complement to Norbert Elias classic discussion. The book includes many fascinating insights into the differences in civility practices between France, England, and the United States.

William Outhwaite, professor of sociology, Newcastle University,

author of European Society and The Future of Society,

and co-editor of the Blackwell Dictionary of Social Thought

This is an interesting and important piece of scholarship. It traces the evolution of civility across time and space, and finds that instead of being a monolithic concept, civility has taken different forms in France, England, and the United States. In this tour, Davetian takes us from the distant past to the present day, and also examines how the tide of civility may have crested, and may now be receding. A great read.

A.R. Gillis, professor emeritus, Department of Sociology,

University of Toronto, and author of Institutional dynamics and

dangerous classes: Reading, writing, and arrest in 19th-century France,

Social Forces; So long as they both shall live: Marital dissolution and

the decline of domestic homicide, American Journal of Sociology;

Crime and state surveillance, American Journal of Sociology; and

Literacy and the civilization of violence, Sociological Forum

Dr Davetian has accomplished an important goal with his book. He has meshed the personal and social into a text that gives meaning to what is usually dry theory. His academic credentials are impeccable but so are his feelings and emotions, his humanity, in regard to sociologic phenomena.

Dr Arthur Janov, director, the Primal Center, Santa Monica, and author of

The Primal Scream, The Feeling Child, and Primal Healing

Civility: A Cultural History is impressive in both scope and depth, engaging in an innovative and substantial dialogue on the concept of civility. Well documented and erudite, Benet Davetians book not only historicizes the development of civility but also locates the concept in todays society and offers a renewed perspective on crucial issues such as multiculturalism. I read Civility with great pleasure.

Jean-Franois Ct, professor of sociology,

Universit du Qubec Montral, and author of

Architecture dun marcheur: Entretiens avec Wajdi Mouawad and

Le triangle dHerms: Poe, Stein, Warhol, figures de la modernit esthtique

CIVILITY: A CULTURAL HISTORY

Cut off in traffic? Bumped without apology on the subway? Forced to listen to a profane conversation in a public space? In todays Western societies, many feel that there has been a noticeable and marked decrease in mutual consideration in both public and private settings. Are we less civil now than in the past? Benet Davetians masterful study Civility: A Cultural History responds to this question through a historical, social, and psychological discussion of the civility practices in three nations England, France, and the United States.

Davetians rich, multi-dimensional review of civility from 1200 to the present day provides an in-depth analysis of the social and personal psychology of human interaction and charts a new course for the study and understanding of civility and civil society. Civility addresses major topics in public discourse today regarding the ideals and practices of civility and the possibility of a future civility ethic capable of inspiring cooperation across cultural and national boundaries.

DR BENET DAVETIAN is chair and associate professor of sociology and anthropology at the University of Prince Edward Island (Canada) and director of the Civility Institute. He is listed in Canadas Whos Who for his accomplishments in literature and the social sciences.

A Cultural History

BENET DAVETIAN

University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2009

Toronto Buffalo London

www.utppublishing.com

Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-0-8020-9338-7 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-8020-9722-4 (paper)

Printed on acid-free paper

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Davetian, Benet, 1947

Civility : a cultural history / Benet Davetian.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8020-9338-7 (bound). ISBN 978-0-8020-9722-4 (pbk.)

1. Courtesy Social aspects History. 2. Courtesy United States History. 3. Courtesy England History. 4. Courtesy France History. 5. Courtesy Europe History. I. Title.

BJ1533.C9D39 2009 177.109 C2008-907629-X

This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).

This work would not have been possible without the patient hospitality of citizens of the United States, England, and France. Over a period of many years, they gave of their time, their kindness, and their insights. I apologize to them for any statements that reveal any lack of understanding on my part.

I am also very grateful to two funding organizations that generously supported my research and made possible a project that would otherwise have been financially forbidding. I thank the British Commonwealth Association of Universities Fellowship Committee for their award (19982002) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their fellowships (1998 to 2004). Additionally, I am grateful to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs (CCEPA) for a grant enabling me to study civility in the educational system (20078).

Many people contributed to the preparation of this work by offering insights and advice. Principal among these was Professor William Outhwaite of Newcastle University. His many patient readings of the manuscript left me grateful as well as enlightened. Many thanks also to Dr Anthony Synnott, who encouraged me during the later stages of the manuscript and kindly arranged for a pleasant and productive two-year stay at Concordia University in Montreal subsequent to my field research in Europe. I had some very good luck writing in some of the fine cafs and bistros of this wonderful cosmopolitan and multicultural world city.

No book can make it to market without the support and understanding of the administration of the university in which one teaches. Without course releases and other courtesies, an academic would be hard-pressed to complete a major manuscript in a timely way. I have been fortunate to have this support and am very grateful to the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, a university located in one of the most civil regions of North America. I thank U.P.E.I. President H. Wade MacLauchlan; Dr Richard Kurial, Dean of Arts; Dr Vianne Timmons, former Vice-President Academic; Dr Katherine Schultz, Vice-President Research and Development; and Dr Rosemary Herbert, Vice-President Academic. Thanks are also due to the National Libraries of America, France, and England.