The Reins of Conduct

This book approaches the Spanish civilising process by reconstructing the codes of conduct that have existed from the Late Middle Ages to the present day. This reconstruction is based on material from manuals of good manners, courtly literature, school textbooks on civility, and general works of etiquette, culminating in self-help publications as texts characteristic of the current state of the civilising process. By following this journey, we can see the transformation of behaviors that, at one point or another, have been considered civilised. This book is of special interest to students and scholars of sociological theory, historical sociology, Eliasian theory, and Spanish cultural history. Originally published in Spanish as Las bridas de la conducta: Una aproximación al proceso civilizatorio español (2007), this work is available in English for the first time.