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Notes -
It was enforced socially. There were, in the late nineteenth century lots of social expectations placed on people. How to dress, how to behave in various situations and public venues, how to greet people and how to give dinner parties and teas and other social events. Emily Post’s books on etiquette from the turn of the twentieth century were pretty detailed. If you didn’t live up to expectations, you’d lose status.
Just because we stopped teaching people these things doesn’t mean they couldn’t exist in some updated form (do we really need calling cards? Do I have to pick livery colors?) in the future. I’m convinced that eventually people will sort of have to reinvent or rediscover these kinds of things.
I think honestly there is some benefits to requirements of formality, conscientiousness, and diligence in the modern world. I think such requirements tend to reduce complexity and create a bit more trust. It’s also a bit more pleasant to live in a country where people are more formal and diligent. Would you rather live with the stuffy members of the Grantham house, or in a house where there’s absolute chaos and the parents don’t even change out of pajamas to go to shoplift at Walmart?
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