An anthropological discussion of politeness, focusing on the concepts of negative and positive politeness, and the cultures that are seen to represent these attributes, especially England and Australia respectively.
My only possible — and I hope suitably politely Canadian — immediate comment is Goodness me! Thank you for the recognition!
I do not equate “friendly” with “polite”, as many of the respondents in the surveys you present seem to do. The first seems less easily “taught”, enculturated or socialized, dare I say more “natural”, more dependent on individual personality and temperament than the second. As you say, gruffness does not preclude politeness, or, indeed, friendliness, helpfulness, generosity, etc.
Might not ethno/cultural factors in the demographic make-up of the locations play a little-mentioned rôle here? Differences in body language, in concepts of personal space. Might language differences/uncertainty lead to what looks like ignoring, avoiding and “rudeness?
Again, silence or avoidance do not always equal rudeness, any more than “politeness” equals “friendliness.
Thanks for the link! I think we can only gloss cultures as being characterised by positive and negative politeness at the crudest level - as you note, regional differences, demographic composition, etc., will all impact politeness norms. This was something Brown and Levinson were clearly aware of when they came up with the typology. Interestingly, most of the contemporary studies exploring cultures in terms of positive and negative politeness are conducted by scholars (linguists primarily) working outside of western contexts - the concepts have become extremely unfashionable amongst western-trained anthropologists.
Still, I do think that the typology is broadly useful, because politeness does take different forms - and some forms of politeness are definitely 'friendlier' than others (positive politeness), while other forms are about avoiding awkwardness and saving the other person's face (negative politeness) - via mechanisms like silence, avoidance, etc. But then, I am middle-aged and old-fashioned, so I would think that.
My only possible — and I hope suitably politely Canadian — immediate comment is Goodness me! Thank you for the recognition!
I do not equate “friendly” with “polite”, as many of the respondents in the surveys you present seem to do. The first seems less easily “taught”, enculturated or socialized, dare I say more “natural”, more dependent on individual personality and temperament than the second. As you say, gruffness does not preclude politeness, or, indeed, friendliness, helpfulness, generosity, etc.
I await Part 2!
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/the-rudest-and-most-polite-cities-in-canada-are-both-in-ontario-1.6525745
Might not ethno/cultural factors in the demographic make-up of the locations play a little-mentioned rôle here? Differences in body language, in concepts of personal space. Might language differences/uncertainty lead to what looks like ignoring, avoiding and “rudeness?
Again, silence or avoidance do not always equal rudeness, any more than “politeness” equals “friendliness.
Sent from my iPad
Thanks for the link! I think we can only gloss cultures as being characterised by positive and negative politeness at the crudest level - as you note, regional differences, demographic composition, etc., will all impact politeness norms. This was something Brown and Levinson were clearly aware of when they came up with the typology. Interestingly, most of the contemporary studies exploring cultures in terms of positive and negative politeness are conducted by scholars (linguists primarily) working outside of western contexts - the concepts have become extremely unfashionable amongst western-trained anthropologists.
Still, I do think that the typology is broadly useful, because politeness does take different forms - and some forms of politeness are definitely 'friendlier' than others (positive politeness), while other forms are about avoiding awkwardness and saving the other person's face (negative politeness) - via mechanisms like silence, avoidance, etc. But then, I am middle-aged and old-fashioned, so I would think that.