'The Value of Civility?'

Boyd, Richard

doi:10.1080/00420980600676105

Cited by 162 publications

(145 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Although obviously not of the same magnitude, some elements of the contemporary Respect agenda in England and Wales, including mechanisms deployed through techniques of housing governance, do represent decivilising processes of government at the very time that they are aimed at countering a perceived decline in civility amongst certain populations within UK society. Elias was right to identify that the promotion of civility often serves as an instrument of social control by constructing differences between elites and 'targeted' populations and may therefore serve as a device of hierarchy and exclusion (Boyd, 2006;Garrett, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(In)formalization and the Civilizing Process: Applying the Work of Norbert Elias to Housing‐Based Anti‐Social Behaviour Interventions in the UK

Powell

Flint

2009

Housing, Theory and Society

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This paper utilises Norbert Elias' theory of the civilising process to examine trends in social conduct in the UK and to identify how problematic 'anti-social' behaviour is conceptualised and governed through housing-based mechanisms of intervention.The paper describes how Elias' concepts of the formalisation and informalisation of conduct and the construction of established and outsider groups provide an analytical framework for understanding social relations. It continues by discussing how de-civilising processes are also evident in contemporary society, and are applied to current policy discourse around Respect and anti-social behaviour. The paper utilises the governance of 'anti-social' conduct through housing mechanisms in the UK to critique the work of Elias and concludes by arguing that a revised concept of the civilising process provides a useful analytical framework for future studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(In)formalization and the Civilizing Process: Applying the Work of Norbert Elias to Housing‐Based Anti‐Social Behaviour Interventions in the UK

Powell

Flint

2009

Housing, Theory and Society

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“…Importantly, there are codes of behaviour that confer legitimacy on participants who comport themselves in accordance with them; critics, however, claim these behaviours may dampen the possibilities that dissent will resonate with broader audiences. Calls for civility and the active construction of norms such as ubuntu, 2 for instance, are argued to label dissent as 'uncivil' and therefore inappropriate in deliberations over the public good (Allmendinger & Haughton, 2010;Boyd, 2006;Clarke, 2010). As Dean (2009, p. 21) argues, this creates a 'fantasy of politics without politics."…”

Section: Pedagogies Of Citizenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Protests in public spaces might also be a means of conveying dissatisfaction with the government, but what if the protests involve breaking the law? In many cases, such acts are required to draw attention to a cause, but they might violate norms of civility (see Boyd, 2006) and might not be consistent with the kinds of citizenship that are promoted through the pedagogy. This tension is acute in South Africa, where the founding myth of the new nation is rooted in a tradition of political activism.…”

Section: Pedagogies Of Citizenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contesting the ‘Active’ in active citizenship: youth activism in Cape Town, South Africa

Buire

Staeheli

2017

Space and Polity

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

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“…We have argued that a lack of CC and the occurrence of ASB reflects poor intergroup relations and perceptions; on the other hand, that civility reflects and maintains harmonious relations, though it needs to be underpinned by acceptance of the legitimacy and equal status of others (Boyd, 2006;Somerville, 2009). This offers a starting point for assessing the CC and ASB policy frameworks in the UK.…”

Section: Civility Interaction the Role Of Government And Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Civility, Community Cohesion and Antisocial Behaviour: Policy and Social Harmony

Bannister¹,

O’Sullivan²

2012

J. Soc. Pol.

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Intergroup conflict, whether manifest as the absence of community cohesion or as the presence of antisocial behaviour, is an issue of international concern. In the UK, confronting the reality or perceived threat of intergroup conflict is a core feature of community cohesion and antisocial behaviour policies. To varying degrees, the frameworks underpinning these policies see the absence or breakdown of community relations as a cause of social disharmony. A key challenge for policy is therefore improvement of the quality of community relations. In this paper, we consider how government has approached this challenge. We filter our analysis through the lens of civility, which proposes that the peaceful coexistence of diverse social groups rests on the existence and maintenance of intergroup empathy and mutual respect. This proposal is supported by international research evidence on the outcomes of meaningful interactions, where these are predicated on equal group status, leading to changes in group and intergroup perceptions and behaviours (the contact hypothesis). We consider the extent to which community cohesion and anti-social behaviour policies in the UK demonstrate a coherent conception of the problem of community relations, the quality of community relations to which these policies aspire and whether the strategies deployed to address community relations seek to support civility through meaningful interaction. We find that the policy debates start from different presumptions concerning the roots of social disharmony, and this is reflected in the nature of the interventions which the community cohesion and antisocial behaviour policy frameworks support. In particular, we find that the social interaction promoted through policies in the UK is not necessarily aimed at achieving social harmony through meaningful interaction based on recognition of equal group status. We also show that these policies are based on little in the way of evidence and prior knowledge.

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'The Value of Civility?'

Cited by 162 publications

References 19 publications

(In)formalization and the Civilizing Process: Applying the Work of Norbert Elias to Housing‐Based Anti‐Social Behaviour Interventions in the UK

(In)formalization and the Civilizing Process: Applying the Work of Norbert Elias to Housing‐Based Anti‐Social Behaviour Interventions in the UK

Contesting the ‘Active’ in active citizenship: youth activism in Cape Town, South Africa

Civility, Community Cohesion and Antisocial Behaviour: Policy and Social Harmony

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