Incivility
The Rude Stranger in Everyday Life

This book analyses everyday encounters with rudeness and asks what can be done to improve civic life in a world of strangers.

Philip Smith (Author), Timothy L. Phillips (Author), Ryan D. King (Author)

9780521895514, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 August 2010

232 pages, 16 b/w illus. 38 tables
23.4 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm, 0.49 kg

'An innovative sociological study of an issue that today generates much anxious chatter but little sustained analysis - rudeness between strangers in public places. By treating incivility as a routine part of everyday life, rather than a policy problem to be fixed, the authors shed new light on this issue and offer some wise words about what can - and cannot - be done to produce civil social relations.' Ian Loader, University of Oxford

Has anyone ever pushed in front of you in a queue? Stolen your parking space? Talked on their mobile phone during a film at the cinema? In our everyday lives we all encounter rude and inconsiderate people. This unique book provides the first ever systematic investigation of typical encounters with rudeness. Through a meticulous analysis of over 500 events, it maps out what people experience as rude, where and when this happens and what takes place in the exchange between the participants. The inquiry further charts the emotional and social consequences of rudeness and victimization, with the results challenging the widespread assumption that bad behaviour is toxic to community life. In conclusion the study draws upon its findings and surveys a range of strategies for reducing the level of incivility in everyday life, identifying some simple and innovative solutions. Incivility will appeal to criminologists, sociologists and scholars of urban studies.

1. Redirecting incivility research
2. The fundamentals of the incivil encounter
3. Everyday incivility and the everyday round
4. Emotions and sequences
5. Gender, age and class: divergent experiences?
6. After the event: coping, avoiding and changing
7. General attitudes towards the stranger: exploring fear and trust
8. How to confront incivility
9. Twenty questions and answers.

Subject Areas: Crime & criminology [JKV], Social theory [JHBA], Sociology [JHB], Urban communities [JFSG]