Civility

See also: Incivility

Civility is derived from the Latin civis, meaning "citizen". However, civility is not limited to actions by an individual in his or her capacity as a citizen. A citizen’s participation in the political process (voting, governance) is known as civic engagement.

Overview

Civility is the action of working together productively to reach a common goal, and often with beneficent purposes. Some definitions conflate civility with politeness, which suggests disengaging with others so as not to offend ("roll over and play dead"...). The notion of positively constructive civility suggests robust, even passionate, engagement framed in respect of differing views. In his call for restoring civility, Pastor Rick Warren said, "In America, we’ve got to learn how to disagree without demonizing each other." Pastor Warren was metaphorically speaking, but the fundamental principle he is trying to restore is the idea that people can still work together even if they do not always absolutely agree with what each other's point of view.

Community, choices, conscience, character are all elements directly related to civility. Civility is more than just having manners, because it involves developing a civil attitude and civil responsibility. Civility often forms more meaningful friendships and relationships, with an underlying tone of civic duty to help more than the sum of it's whole.

When people engage in conversation together with civility being a focal point of the outcome in the situation, this is commonly referred to as civil discourse. Kenneth J. Gergen, an American psychologist suggested that respect of all people from all parties must be respected when in civil discourse, as "the language of dispassionate objectivity". From time immemorial, Freemasonry has promoted democratic habits of honest listening and civil discourse. The origins of the Freemasons dates back to early stonemasons fraternities, and since than has preserved an open environment to allow for a democratic process for alternative ideas.

Developmental model of civility

Adolf G. Gunderson, PhD, and Suzanne Goodney Lea, PhD, have developed a civility model which "stresses the notion that civility is a sequence, not a single thing or set of things." The model places various types of human situations with their results on a continua, which is measured on a scale ranging from "less civil" to "indifference" to "most civil."

Worldwide Civility

International Day of Peace is observed around the world each year on 21st of September.

Movement to foster worldwide civility

International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") is observed by many countries on September 21st. Peace day was first started in 1981 by declaration of the United Nations General Assembly. The goal of Peace Day is to "strengthen the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples." Since Peace Day was established Furthering the Day’s mission, the 21st of September has also been marked as a day of non-violence and cease-fires.

Everyone is welcome to celebrate Peace Day no matter where they live in the world. Everyone can celebrate Peace Day in their own way and is encouraged to spread good will. Companies and organizations are also encouraged to celebrate Peace Day.

In May 2007, the Global Peace Index (GPI) was launched in an attempt to measure the relative ranking of peacefulness around different countries around the world. Today the Global Peace Index is maintained the Institute for Economics and Peace, and is conducted on an annual basis. The index primarily gauges global peace using three main themes: level of safety and security in society, the extent of domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarization.

Origin of civility

Late Middle English: from Old French civilite, from Latin civilitas, from civilis 'relating to citizens' (see civil). In early use the term denoted the state of being a citizen and hence good citizenship or orderly behavior. The sense 'politeness' arose in the mid 16th century.

Civility in the United States of America (U.S.)

History of civility in U.S.

As a young man, George Washington published a book "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation" devoted to Civility

Before the soon to be first president of the United States, George Washington as a young boy wrote a publication called the Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation, which it's primarily message related to polite manners.

In March 2010, author Anna Post published a book called Mr. Manners, Lessons from Obama on Civility, which highlights good manners from the President of the United States of America. The book is marked with Post's commentary along with pictures with President Obama's commitment to daily kind acts of civility.

In a 2012 a poll conducted by Weber Shandwick, stated that 65% of Americans said the "lack of civility is a major problem that has worsened."

Movement to foster civility in U.S.

Civility in government

Many projects are led by State Supreme Courts, such as the California Judicial Branch who launched a "Civics Education Outreach program" with a goal to educate students by helping them to understand independent judiciary in our democracy and how our courts and legal process works.

Civility in the legal profession

In the legal profession, in response to a perceived decline in civility, various state bar associations in the U.S. have adopted or are considering civility standards. Civility initiatives are also evident in other workplace environments in the U.S.

Civility in schools

Numerous universities in the U.S., such as the University of Colorado, the University of Missouri, and California State University San Marcos have created programs designed to foster civility. Arizona State University offers an undergraduate certificate in Civil Communication. Still other universities, such as Kansas State University, have developed programs in dialogue and deliberation which involve codes of behavior that foster constructive, civil discourse.

Civility in the community

Numerous community groups have formed throughout the U.S. to restore constructive civility in the public space. The Civility Toolkit with an estimated 300 tools and resources have been compiled by the Civility Center with a mission to help provide resources to help restore civility in society. Many of these groups are members of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation. Other programs like iCivics, led by Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, provides educational tools for students that teach about the importance of actively taking part in democracy. To help bring these lessons into the classroom, O'Conner's program provides teachers with support materials, such as printable goals, games, and lesson plans.

Arnett and Arneson define civility "a metaphor that points to the importance of public respect in interpersonal interaction." The difference between tolerating someone, and respecting them are concerned with the outlook that toleration does not imply respect, but respect requires understanding of another person's perspective. Having social intelligence or "Social IQ" impacts our ability to empathize with people, and realize all people are human and that if respect or common ground cannot be met that we strive for at least toleration in order to be civil.

In Psychology Today, Dr. Price-Mitchell describes civility as "behavior that recognizes the humanity of others, allowing us to live peacefully together in neighborhoods and communities." This may suggest that civility goes beyond just toleration, but may inherently imply a mutual co-existence and respect for humankind. Some may relate this to the ideas from singer John Lennon when he sang in the song "Imagine" the words "Imagine all the people sharing all the world." Although the level of peace can be a subjective topic, many people would agree that in order to remain civil it requires a certain degree of harmony and opposes violence.

In academic journal, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Calhoun delineates civility as an element of dialogue that sheds light on "basic moral attitudes of respect, tolerance, and considerateness". Calhoun, Cheshire. "The Virtue of Civility". Philosophy & Public Affairs. 251-275. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)CS1 maint: location (link) The topic of civility is expansive, and can be viewed from many different perspectives. Calhoun considers Civility to be a part of moral virtues that can differ from what is socially acceptable. Since doing what is socially acceptable, does not always imply that it's morally the right thing to do.

Lack of civility in U.S.

Incivility is the polar opposite of civility, or in other words a lack or completely without civility. Verbal or physical attacks on others, cyberbullying, rudeness, religious intolerance, lack of respect, ethnic intolerance, and vandalism are just some of the acts that are generally considered acts of incivility. Incivility is a negative part of society that has impacted many people in the United States, but as the world is becoming increasingly more transparent in social interactions, it has become more increasingly apparent that incivility has become an issue on the global stage. Social media and the web have given people the ability around the globe to freely exchange ideas, but it has not come without its consequences.

Politicians in the U.S. have frequently cited that they encounter a lack of civility in their workplace, and have disregarded it as unfortunate aspect of politics, but polls indicate that "going negative" can help candidates win elections. During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump has regularly called his rivals "stupid, incompetent and losers".

Recognizing that incivility online, more commonly referred to as cyberbullying, has become an increasing problem that takes away from a positive online experience. Recognizing that people harassing others online has become a problem and can have negative consequences for businesses, many companies have stepped up to create more awareness and initiatives to help. Intel in collaboration with organizations such as the Born This Way Foundation and Vox Media have made an initiative called "Hack Harassment" aimed to increase awareness of online harassment and anti-harassment technologies. There is no claim of solution for what can be done to stop online harassment, but many studies suggest that a large number of people are harassed online. Although there are many tactics to block cyber-bullying, such as censorship and banning users from accessing a site, it does not correct the underlying issues on what causes it in the first place. Although blocking people online from bullying others may solve some of the issues on the web, it may only manifest itself in other forms offline and in person where the possibility for violence and other physical harm could take place.

Workplace civility

As of recent studies and polls from 2014 indicate that Americans find workplace incivility as a serious problem that is not getting better. One study found that 60% of employees believe that "co-workers’ annoying behaviors negatively impact the workplace" and, as a result, 40% reported that they are "looking for new employment". These studies suggest that incivility in the workplace dampens productivity and an adverse effect on a organization’s bottom line. Although this data is only looking to quantify how widespread workplace incivility is in the workplace, it does not account for how many people encounter workplace incivility and are not sure what they can do about it.

Numerous organizations, including the United States Government, have actively attempted to put in place measures to prevent incivility in the workforce. One measure that was initiated to reduce workplace incivility, was processing cases of sexual harassment to be illegal, which is defined by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as "It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person's sex." Harassment can include "sexual harassment" or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Although many would agree that sexual harassment is an issue that should be illegal, it has really been in the spotlight of the attention in the U.S. since 1964. Because of the legal ramifications from poor prior classification of sexual harassment cases in the past, it's boundaries were more loosely interpreted and more people were subject to unwanted contact or attention. Since this the term has been redefined, people are greater protected from a legal perspective in their place of work, but must actively participate in preventing these issues by speaking up and/or reporting issues. The definition for these laws are still being written today, as more people are speaking out against the abuse.

Civility in Canada (CA)

Movement to foster civility in CA

In July 2012, the President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in his opening statement to the 5th Biennial International Legal Ethics Conference, made a strong point around the centrality of civility as becoming an important moral virtue for lawyers. Legislation is often very open for interpretation, unless strictly and prohibitively defined by law, but in most cases where the law is yet to be defined many lawyers can see opportunity to act immorally to win their case. The "anything to get the job done" mentality can not only have negative consequences in the legal system, but it could possibly further spread the potential for laws and regulations to be exploited in immoral manner.

Also, during 2012 the Law Society of Upper Canada decided that Joe Groia was guilty of his incivility to opposing counsel during his successful defense of John Felderhof from Insider trading and securities charges. On the same case, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed the decision of Bar of Quebec that Giles Dore was guilty of professional misconduct because of an uncivil letter he wrote to a judge. This high profile case brought a lot of attention to the legal definition of the word civility, and what it means to be civil in the legal profession. It has since defined a broader set of rules of what is legally considered civil in the court of law in Canada.

Since the case with Joe Groia, coiner of the term "Civility Movement" in Canada, The Law Society of Upper Canada has made it a mission to root out incivility in the legal profession. To enforce The Law Society's stance on the issues of civility in the Canadian legal system, they have issued verbal warnings to lawyers who are not civil with judges and other lawyers. In a handful of cases, lawyers have questioned whether the law society's intervention might be counter-productive - discouraging lawyers' vigorous defense of their clients for the sake of politeness. Since laws and rules are often open to interpretation, some lawyers think that it's a conflict of interest to be civil with their opponents as they believe their isn't any way to accomplish their goals while remaining civil.

See also

Etiquette and language

• Acrolect
• Aizuchi
• Basilect
• Honorific
• Netiquette
• Polite fiction
• Prescription and description
• Profanity
• Semantics
• Slang
• Slang dictionary
• Standard language
• Style of address
• T–V distinction
• What happens on tour, stays on tour

Etiquette and society

• Aliénor de Poitiers early documentor of French etiquette
• Citizens for Civil Discourse
• Civic virtue
• Civil discourse
• Code of conduct
• Concert etiquette
• Debrett's
• Diplomacy
• Discourse community
• Driving etiquette
• Faux pas, Faux pas derived from Chinese pronunciation
• Intercultural competence
• Levée, the English version of Louis XIV's morning rising etiquette (lever) at Versailles.
• Military courtesy
• Order of precedence
• Protocol
• Refinement, Psychology And Social Class
• Rhetoric
• Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation by George Washington
• Self-censorship
• Social graces
• Speech code
• Social norms
• Table manners
• Work etiquette
• Zigzag method

Worldwide etiquette

• Africa
• Asia
• Australia and New Zealand
• Europe
• Latin America
• Middle East
• North America
• Islamic Etiquette

Further reading

• Benet Davetian, "Civility – A Cultural History," University of Toronto Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8020-9722-4
• Eiko Ikegami, "Bonds of Civility", February 2005, ISBN 9780521601153
• Digby Anderson, editor (1996) Gentility Recalled: Mere Manners and the Making of Social Order, May 1996, ISBN 978-0907631668
• Elijah Anderson, The Cosmospolitan Canopy: Race And Civility In Everyday Life, February 28, 2012, ISBN 978-0393340518
• George Washington Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
• Godfrey Harris, Civility: How It Fosters Better Communities Paperback, Jun 2003, ISBN 978-0935047448
• John Perkins, Restoring At - Risk Communities: Doing It Together and Doing It Right Paperback, Nov 1 2011, ISBN 978-0801054631
• Kent Roberts & Jay Newman: Bring a Dish to Pass The Civil Action of Community Improvement, 2001
• Mark Kingwell, Unruly Voices: Essays on Democracy, Civility and the Human Imagination, September 11, 2012, ISBN 978-1926845845
• Os Guinness, The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It, January 22, 2008, ISBN 978-0061353437
• P.M. Forni Choosing Civility: The 25 Rules of Considerate Conduct
• P.M. Forni The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude
• P.M. Forni, Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct, St. Martin's Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-312-28118-2
• Paul A. Elsner and George R. Boggs, Encouraging Civility as a Community College Leader
• Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts That Guided Our First President in War and Peace
• Stephen Carter, Civility, Feb 13 1999, ISBN 978-0060977597
• Stephen L. Carter (1998) Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy, Basic Books, 1998, ISBN 978-0-465-02384-4
• T.S. Bogorad The Importance of Civility
• Walter Earl Fluker, Ethical Leadership: The Quest For Character, Civility, And Community Paperback, Feb 1 2009, ISBN 978-0800663490