Civility and Its Discontents

Abstract

The ideal of ‘civility’, according to Cheshire Calhoun, is thought by many to be a "basic virtue of social life" (2000: 251). For many who share in this opinion, liberal democracy itself would not survive were it not for the existence of a set of robust, shared behavioural practices guiding both our everyday interactions with one another and our political deliberations. While it is recognised that practices that qualify as ‘civil’ vary widely across place, time, and culture, defenders of the ideal argue that they serve an important function as ways in which citizens can express respect for one another’s equal standing. These practices are thought to be all the more important in the large, plural societies of today. Here civility allows individuals living in diverse societies to live alongside one another in relative harmony by assuring them that those they come into contact with respect their equal standing. Norms of civility, then, provide a shared language of mutual respect, without which the necessary interactions central to common citizenship would not be successful.

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