Manners Summary and Analysis

The primary purpose of manners is not to establish social ranking so much as to facilitate the creation and function of society, Emerson says. However, there is often an overlap of fine manners with the upper class which leads some of the lower classes to emulate the mannerisms of their superiors without really understanding the purpose of social graces, or manners. The behaviors that grease the wheels of fellowship gradually become distilled into a repertoire or pattern of interaction that favors the mean over the eccentric, Emerson says. But if a person demonstrates otherwise their fitness to enter into this mannered upper class, their eccentricities will become a matter of amusement rather than a threat to the status quo.

Geniuses and those with special gifts will be given wider leeway by society, but in general, its conventions and manners are good...