Middle-class Victorians relied on etiquette manuals to navigate social norms, from conversation topics to dining procedures. These guides detailed posture, gestures, and forms of address. Women learned domestic management and hosting skills, while men studied business and social negotiation. Manuals codified moral and cultural values, helping families demonstrate refinement. Following these rules signaled belonging to an aspirational class and distinction from the working poor. Publishers marketed manuals as keys to social mobility, blending instruction with moral guidance. They reinforced social hierarchy by teaching conformity.
Etiquette manuals helped solidify middle-class identity and respectability.
It shows how written cultural codes guided behavior and reinforced class boundaries.
Did you know some etiquette books included illustrations showing correct and incorrect posture at dinner tables?
[British Library, britishlibrary.uk]