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Abstract
In this paper, I will draw on a long-term ethnography of urban public life, civility and incivility practices and policies, in order to set out 6 claims.
1. Civility exchanges are not mere instances of ceremonial conduct. Common accounts overlook the reflexive dimensions of interacting in “a world of strangers” (Lofland). Taking an ethnographic approach to our contemporary 'culture of civility' (Becker) helps us to reconsider the Goffmanesque approach to public life and the order of interaction. Not only do 'fleeting' encounters and 'ceremonial interactions' prove to go beyond 'face-work' issues, but they also put to test a practical sense of what life in common is (Dewey), what people owe one another as mere citizens and what they stand and fight for in public. Civility is key to democracy as a way of life.
2. Civility should not be reduced to a set of 'magic words' or 'rituals' that can simply be 'added' to whatever one is doing. It is often misconstrued as an additional layer placed on top of things, just as words are misconstrued as something placed on top of pre-existing thoughts. Manners are always adverbs: they can never be fully understood when considered separately from the activities in which they occur and the objectives they aim to fulfil.
3. Civility cannot be reduced to conformity. Rules and habits are tools for action, not explanations for them. People care about doing the right thing, and it’s not always obvious. Research reveals the intensity of the emotions involved in these interactions, as well as the uncertainty and reflexivity sparked by everyday urban trouble. People quarrel, become upset by seemingly insignificant events. Whether they are facing 'street harassment', welcoming a tourist or a baby, giving a beggar a coin, people are acutely aware of the meaning of their actions and their responsibility for what they do or allow to happen in public.
4. Civility is not the opposite of conflict. Rather, it is related to justice in interaction. Therefore, people fight for civility and about civility. Civility norms are part of a process whereby inherited rules and sources of critique combine and oppose each other, resulting in change over time (Elias). Gender norms in public are a good example of this process and the associated difficulties.
5. Civility involves translating the democratic principles of equality, fraternity and freedom, as well as democratic rights, into our everyday interactions. This includes the right to circulate freely, to be treated with respect and to be considered trustworthy and worthy of attention and assistance. Democratic civility means that people are held accountable for their actions, not their identity.
6. Misconceptions about civility often stem from confusing it with a law-and-order mantra. Civility is about ‘social control’ in a way: in public, we are under each other’s mutual surveillance and care. Although civility has been weaponised, it should not be reduced to merely policing and enforcing order. The civil order is not something that belongs to the state or the police.
