What looks like social grace or etiquette is actually a high-stakes mental ritual.

Evidence

Erving Goffman on Face‑Work: The Psychology of … (Medium / Be Open)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Small acts of decorum toward corpses matter more than practical logic — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 483; Social life includes a ritual order beyond power and trade. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 223