Children and Civility: Ceremonial Deviance and the Acquisition of Ritual Competence

Goffinan's analyses of the ritual elements of everyday interaction indicate that our contemporary civil society is characterized by a kind of religion of civility. Based on observations of children in public settings, this article empirically analyzes some of the ways in which children are socialized to civility. That analysis indicates that children's disruptive and otherwise offensive acts are essential elements of that socialization process in that they occasion observed interpersonal rituals, ceremonial instructions and coaching. Children often are not the beneficiaries of the expressions of respect and regard that they are instructed and encouraged to give to others, however. Such treatment may actually encourage the young to engage in a kind of calculated ceremonial deviance which may also indirectly promote their socialization to civility.