Etiquette-book instruction waned as the modern city stabilized.
Evidence
In the United States, at least, a good deal of the public teaching was done by those self-appointed experts on “how to act”: the authors of etiquette books. A casual purview of such books from 1881 to 1962 reveals both a concentration on explicit instructions for public behavior during the period when the early industrial city in the United States was at its most confusing, and a gradually decreasing concern with these matters as the modern city came into its own. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 673
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- CANDY: A neat historical arc: Americans had to be explicitly taught how to behave on the street in 1881, and by 1962 the teaching stopped entirely.
Related
- Etiquette books’ public-space content diminished as the modern city matured (similarity 0.92)
- Etiquette books taught public conduct most intensely when early industrial cities were most confusing. (similarity 0.90)
- Explicit public-behavior instruction peaked when the early industrial city was most confusing (similarity 0.90)
- Cities explicitly teach behavioral rules only when tradition and cues break down (similarity 0.80)
- The early industrial city uniquely required explicit teaching of urban manners (similarity 0.80)
- Aspiring bourgeoisie learned urban manners mainly through public instruction from betters (similarity 0.79)
- Books taught conduct to newly urban literate classes (similarity 0.79)