Etiquette

Historical Perspective

• King Louis XIV used etiquette to manage and control his courtiers at the Palace of Versailles.
• The Ancient Egyptian vizier Ptahhotep wrote The Maxims of Ptahhotep, a book on civil virtues.
• Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality in his works.
• Baldassare Castiglione wrote The Book of the Courtier, a guide on courtly etiquette during the Italian Renaissance.
• The term 'etiquette' was first used by the 4th Earl of Chesterfield in the 18th century.
• The adoption of etiquette was a self-conscious process for acquiring the conventions of politeness.
• Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, defined politeness as the art of being pleasing in company.
• Periodicals like The Spectator advised readers on the etiquette required of a gentleman.
• Gentlemen's clubs published in-house etiquette guides to codify expected civility.
• Manners proliferated during the Renaissance in response to the development of the absolute state.
• The rituals and manners associated with the royal court of England during that period were closely bound to a person's social status.
• Manners demonstrate a person's position within a social network.
• Manners are a means of negotiation from that social position.
• Manners were vital for controlling the outward self and signifying social standing.
• The concept of etiquette has existed since ancient times and has evolved over centuries.
• The 16th-century courtesy book The Book of the Courtier influenced European society.
• Etiquette books like The Ladies Book of Etiquette (1860) and Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette (1957) presented ranges of civility for their respective times.
• The Courtier (1528) and On Civility in Children (1530) were influential etiquette texts.
• The How Rude! comic-book series addressed adolescent perspectives on etiquette and civility.

Sociological Perspectives

• Manners are a means for people to display their social status.
• Manners help maintain the boundaries of social identity and social class.
• Norbert Elias argued that manners arose as a product of group living.
• Manners persist as a way of maintaining social order.
• Manners are informally enforced through self-regulation.

Anthropological Perspectives

• Manners, social behaviors, and group rituals maintain the ordered integrity of a culture.
• Ideas of pollution and defilement are attached to unacceptable behavior to maintain cultural assumptions.
• Manners curtail unacceptable behavior and control experience within the culture.
• Manners enable the local cosmology to remain ordered and free from pollution or defilement.
• Manners play a crucial role in preserving cultural norms and maintaining social order.

Evolutionary Perspectives

• Facial expressions of disgust and shame are universal and innate behaviors.
• Manners have an evolutionary role in preventing the transmission of diseases.
• Personal hygiene and politeness benefit individuals in their social group and increase chances of biological survival.
• Human behavioral responses to otherness preserve manners and social norms.
• The feeling of foreignness serves an evolutionary function by attuning individuals to others' features and behaviors.

Business Etiquette

• Business etiquette varies by culture, such as the Chinese and Australian approaches to conflict resolution.
• Adjusting to the etiquette and professional ethics of another culture is an element of culture shock for businesspeople.
• The Institute of Image Training and Testing International (IITTI) was formed to train personnel departments in measuring and developing social skills for conducting business with people from other cultures.
• The saying 'the customer is always right' summarizes the profit-orientation of good manners in the retail branch of commerce.
• Salesmen and women are usually patient and polite, fostering mutual goodwill and friendliness with customers.

Etiquette Data Sources