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“Good” table manners and “correct”
etiquette and deportment were,
according to Elias, key components
of the cultural template in the spread
of the European “civilizing” process.
See also: W.E.B. Du Bois 68–73 ■ Paul Gilroy 75 ■ Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 ■ Edward Said 80–81 ■ Elijah Anderson 82–83 ■
Stuart Hall 200–01
CULTURE AND IDENTITY
contemporary, and can refer to all
sorts of facts about nations: from
general ones such as lifestyles,
values, customs, and religions,
to personal ones such as levels of
bodily hygiene, ways of preparing
food, and so on. In every case,
Western society stresses that “its”
version is the standard against
which all others should be judged.
The rise of manners
Elias studied etiquette books and
found that a transformation in
attitudes toward bodily behaviors
was key to this sense of civilization.
Westerners had gradually changed
their ideas of what was acceptable
in terms of facial expressions,
control of bodily functions, general
deportment, and so on.
Behaviors considered normal in
the Middle Ages were thought
“barbarous” by the 19th century.
These minor changes resulted in
the formation of a courtly class,
identifiable by its highly codified
manners and disciplined way of
living. Warrior knights became
quiet courtiers, expressing
restraint and maintaining
strict control of impulses and
emotions. “Civilized” behaviors
soon became essential to everyone
wishing to trade and socialize
with others, from tradesmen to
noblemen and women.Elias says that the process spread
ever more widely from the 1500s
onward, because “good manners”
help people get along more
peaceably, and growing towns
and cities require such cooperation.
The process, he said, at some point
became a question of internalizing
the social rules of one’s parents,
rather than one’s “betters.”
However, the rules about what
constitutes “good manners” have
always been dictated by the upper
classes, so “civilization” continues
to work toward furthering the
interests of the powerful elite.
Elias saw the transformation
of manners as an important part of
the centralization of power within
Western nations, and a sign of the
growing interdependency of people
during urbanization. But it was also
important in colonization during
Elias’s lifetime. He was writing
during the 1930s, when colonial
powers such as Britain and France,
secure in their sense of national
self-consciousness, justified the
morality of colonization by claiming
it brought civilization, which would
be “good” for colonized peoples. ■Norbert Elias
Norbert Elias was born in
Breslau (now the Polish city of
Wrocław) in 1897, to a wealthy
Jewish family. After leaving
school he served in the German
army during World War I.
Elias studied philosophy and
medicine at Breslau University,
gaining a PhD in philosophy in- He then studied sociology
with Max Weber’s younger
brother, Alfred, at Heidelberg,
Germany, before moving to
Frankfurt University to work
with Karl Mannheim.
In 1933 Elias went into exile in
Paris and then London, where
he finished The Civilizing
Process. In 1939 the book was
published in Switzerland, but
sank into oblivion until its
republication in West Germany
in 1969. A sought-after lecturer,
Elias spent his final years
traveling in Europe and Africa.Key works1939 The Civilizing Process
(3 volumes)
1939 The Society of Individuals
1970 What is Sociology?