If, when thinking about rules, we are reminded of the idea of a written code of laws and norms, from the point of view of human behavior (in the sense of its manifestation), the rules are not necessarily written. So, as an unwritten rule, we can think of the definition of social etiquette.
Obviously, there are etiquette manuals produced for those who see it as a fundamental practice in social life, but even so, we know that at first, these behaviors are born from practice, from the conventions passed between generations, becoming rules, properly speaking, in manuals, only posteriorly. In this way, we can say that, in general terms, the label is a kind of social convention about how a individual must behave in certain situations or circumstances, as they would be actions endowed with meaning Social.
However, this meaning must be shared among peers, who will certainly be from the same culture, from the same class in short, who will be part of some social group in which there will certainly be an idea of belonging and recognition between they. In this way, such behavior would have a sense of “duty”, thus being the object of a social expectation. This would explain why for some the social etiquette that exists among the richest is so relevant, while for some others, it would be mere frivolity, since such individuals do not share certain values or vision of world.
Such behavioral rules would be directed or related to various aspects relevant to social relationships and people's daily lives. Concerns, such as defining the most appropriate types of clothing for certain occasions, with the verbal language of treatment to be used, with non-verbal language (expressed by the body), among other issues, are just a few examples. Considering that social etiquette can fulfill a certain function for life in society, there are many meanings that such practices and actions can assume, from the expression of cordiality, respect for the other, even the expression of the display of a certain power or social position by someone.
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If social etiquette can be associated with the idea of a convention or a social rule, it could at the same time be linked to the concept of social fact discussed by Emile Durkheim. Social facts are constructed by collective consciousness, which is formed not only by the sum, but by the constant interaction of all individual consciousnesses. They concern the ways and ways of acting and thinking of men. Thus, social facts (as Durkheim would say), or more specifically the social rules of coexistence, end up exerting pressure, that is, a coercive power, on each person.
In this way, social etiquette is nothing more than a set of rules elaborated culturally and that varies according to the historical and social context, fulfilling a certain function in collective life. It is not a matter of the privilege of a social class or a group (although it can be said that the more complex and elaborated rules are associated with the living standards of the more affluent). Thus, from the finest etiquette among the richest to the most commonplace conventions of man's life simple it is possible to say that there are, at some level, rules considered good and necessary for coexistence.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
