Good manners can work against the functioning of the public sphere.

Evidence

When good manners prevent publicly minded speech in the potential contexts of the public sphere, the public sphere has a problem. In families, workplaces, and schools, we assume that open, forthright, active communication matters, as a good in itself; why do we value everyday political conversation so much less? Theorists since Aristotle have argued that regular political conversation is a defining feature of a healthy democracy; that in a democracy, the substance of political life is public discussion; that the ways we can talk about our concerns go far in shaping them; that the ability to discuss politics allows citizens to generate power together. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 102

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Manners function as instruments of social control, not mere decorum. — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 63; Ruling-class procedural politeness masks a threat against open confrontation — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2350; Civility can privatize public power and socialize arbitrary rule. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 247 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Civility can privatize public power and socialize arbitrary rule. #expands (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 247
• Manners function as instruments of social control, not mere decorum. #expands (0.80) — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 63
• Etiquette regulates which conversations get a comfortable public context #expands (0.80) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 180
• Working-class people must now perform ruling-class emotional norms to participate in public culture #exemplifies (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 743
• Ruling-class procedural politeness masks a threat against open confrontation #corroborates (0.78) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2350
• Civility masks the egoism and violence of those who claim refined manners #corroborates (0.78)
• Territorial groups weaponize breached politeness rules to repel outsiders #exemplifies (0.75)