by Mark Waybill

Created on: December 21, 2009

Good manners apply to everyone because they cover areas of universal understanding and importance. Most people in their lives find themselves in situations where a code of conduct, whether observed strictly or in a more casual fashion, is advisable to be followed. All cultures have some form of unwritten or written code of general and more specific behavior, and indeed this is one of the more important elements that constitute a cultural group and define it from those about it.

In a society such as ours where resources are not overly laden for us, we must co-operate to co-exist, and this leads to social patterns of behavior such as manners. Manners apply to all in society, but some manners are more specific in their application, such as say the rules adhered to by government officials or military personnel. But all stem from that universal social requirement for cohesion between members of society, and of the need for a code of conduct by which social relations are to be engaged.

Anarchy is the result of a society without manners. We must not think of manners as being a relic of the past, as being unnecessary and archaic reminders of some chivalrous age long dead. Manners remain with us and forever shall remain so, as they apply to all social conduct, in all areas of society. Of course it will not harm society as a whole if one does not say excuse me, thank you and please, and many people ac commonly in ways generally considered to be impolite and even disgraceful. But even the most savage of individuals abides by some code of conduct.

In history no culture has survived by way of using anarchy as its system. All cultures run on manners and rules, and no civilization could exist without them. From the loftiest monarch to the lowliest peasant, manners command humans in interactions with one another. Without them society would crumble and civilization would come to an end, for what if not manners is it that separates humans from the other beasts?

Civilization depends upon codes of social conduct to function, and society is like a machine which like any machine will soon fail or at least run inefficiently if it is not kept in good order. So, whilst some manners may be as pompous and unnecessary as they are thought of as being, much of day to day life is governed, and rightly so, by social rules and morals, without which society would collapse.

Learn more about this author, Mark Waybill.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.