Aspiring bourgeoisie learned urban manners mainly through public instruction from betters

Evidence

The extent to which such private tutoring occurred is impossible to say. Few individuals were as interested as Thomas and Znaniecki in saving the private correspondence of the “nobodies” for posterity. It is possible to say with more assurance, however, that a considerable amount of public instruction was taking place. Much of this appeared to be aimed toward, and probably swallowed by, members of the emerging nonelite bourgeois who longed to behave like citified “gentlemen and ladies.” Or, if they did not long to, there were members of their group who longed to have them long to. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 666

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the moral panic literature and how norms get inculcated through social pressure rather than law — connects to Lofland’s broader argument about how city conduct rules were historically taught.