Description
Is civility dead? Americans ask this question every election season, but their concern is hardly limited to political campaigns. Doubts about civility regularly arise in just about every aspect of American public life. Rudeness runs rampant. Our news media is saturated with aggressive bluster and vitriol. Our digital platforms teem with trolls and expressions of disrespect. Reflecting these conditions, surveys show that a significant majority of Americans believe we are living in an age of unusual anger and discord. Everywhere we look, there seems to be conflict and hostility, with shared respect and consideration nowhere to be found. In a country that encourages thick skins and speaking one's mind, is civility even possible, let alone desirable?
In How Civility Works, Keith J. Bybee elegantly explores the crisis in civility, looking closely at how civility intertwines with our long history of boorish behavior and the ongoing quest for pleasant company. Bybee argues that the very features that make civility ineffective and undesirable also point to civility's power and appeal. Can we all get along? If we live by the contradictions on which civility depends, then yes, we can, and yes, we should.
Author: Keith J. Bybee
Publisher: Stanford Briefs
Published: 09/07/2016
Pages: 88
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.25lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.00w x 0.40d
ISBN13: 9781503601543
ISBN10: 1503601544
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Sociology | General
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Communication Studies
- Political Science | Political Process | General
About the Author
Keith J. Bybee is the Paul E. and the Hon. Joanne F. Alper '72 Judiciary Studies Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University and their Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Distinguished Lecturer for 2016-2017. He is the author of several books, including All Judges Are Political--Except When They Are Not (Stanford, 2010).