Manners function as instruments of social control, not mere decorum.

Evidence

The term manners is used here to denote the links between social grace and social control. According to Norbert Elias, manners embody what is “considered socially acceptable behavior,” the “precepts on conduct,” and the framework for “conviviality.” — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 63

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘manners’ as the linkage between social grace and social control via Elias’s civilizing process.
• XREF: Connects to Elias’s ‘The Civilizing Process’ and to Foucault-adjacent accounts of discipline woven into everyday conduct. — connects to: Social control includes winning consent, not just coercive punishment; Competence, not power, determines status in functioning societies. — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life An Antidote to Chaos, 910; Moral capacity arises socially but not from societal institutions — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 499 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Social control includes winning consent, not just coercive punishment #expands (0.82)
• Competence, not power, determines status in functioning societies. #complicates (0.75) — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life An Antidote to Chaos, 910
• Moral capacity arises socially but not from societal institutions #qualifies (0.73) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 499