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History & Society
etiquette
social norm
Raphael: Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione
Category:
History & Society
- Key People:
- Baldassare Castiglione
- Emily Post
- Amy Vanderbilt
- Marie Manning
- Related Topics:
- The Honourable
- honorific
- netiquette
- courtesy title
- style
etiquette, system of rules and conventions that regulate social and professional behaviour. In any social unit there are accepted rules of behaviour upheld and enforced by legal codes; there are also norms of behaviour mandated by custom and enforced by group pressure. An offender faces no formal trial or sentence for breach of etiquette; the penalty lies in the disapproval of other members of the group. Regardless of its level of material culture, any highly stratified society will possess an etiquette in which every person knows the behaviour expected from him toward others and from others toward himself. The royal ...(100 of 588 words)