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Richard Jernigan -> RE: Picasso, Segovia, Serranito, Manitas (Oct. 16 2012 5:51:13)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: BarkellWH
There are exceptions in both cases, but I think that in North America and Europe, the idea of treating people with dignity, regardless of social status, has become much more ingrained in the social fabric.
I am curious when this became the case.
In the 15th century the Pastons, a family of recent peaant origin, were definitely on the rise. Eventually a Paston was in Elizabeth I's Privy Council. But in the 15th century their lower class origin was still well remembered. The lawyer John Paston became friendly with Sir John Fastolf, the wealthy and childless neighbor of my family. Fastolf was the prototype of Shakespeare's Falstaff. Fastolf lived at Caister Castle on the coast of Norfolk.
In those days the English aristocracy were closely interconnected by ties of kinship. They addressed one another as "cousin". One day John Paston addressed my ancestor John Jernegan, Lord Somerleyton, as "cousin". Somerleyton never spoke to any of the Pastons again.
As lately as the first quarter of the 19th century the upper classes sometimes treated those beneath them with contempt. Lady Frances Jerningham, daughter of Viscount Dillon, wife of a baronet, was a lady in waiting to Princess (later Queen) Charlotte, during the regency and reign of George IV. She kept a detailed diary and a copious correspondence. It is one of the chief historical sources for the manners of the aristocracy of the period. She recounted many episodes of disdain, grading downward to outright cruelty of the aristocracy toward their social inferiors. You get the impression that Lady Frances didn't approve, though it was common enough behavior.
I was a military brat, raised in an overtly stratified society. Yet I clearly remember being instructed 70 years ago at age 4, "A gentleman does this, a gentleman does not do that." One of the things a gentleman did not do was to be rude to his inferiors in rank. An officer might give a direct order to an enlisted man, but he might not be abusive. An officer did not ordinarily use the imperative to another officer, instead he expressed a command as a wish or preference. However written orders used the imperative.
When MIT Lincoln Laboratory were demoted from Technical Director to Technical Advisor at Kwajalein Missile Range, with the Army taking command, a number of my colleagues were infuriated by the Army's abrupt style in e-mails. I tried to tell them the Army guys weren't intentionally being rude, they were just using the telegraphic style of the modern US military. Most of the Army officers were graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point. Most of them avoided the imperative face to face. The few who gave direct orders were very unpopular.
I walked out on an officer who was being abusive. On the chart he was my boss's boss, the second in command of the base, the commander of the technical mission. Soon enough he was sidelined from actual power by his boss the commander, though the chart remained unchanged. I knew I would suffer no reprisal. As I expected, his boss chewed him out soundly, in private, but loudly enough to be heard by the secretary in the outer office. As expected, she promptly spread the word.
I had a civilian subordinate who had been in the first class at West Point that included women. She was intensely ambitious and competitive. As an engineer, she was a diligent worker. When promoted to a managerial position (not by me) she became a tinhorn despot, and was devoutly hated by all her employees. Her new boss was stuck with her for a while, but he got her transferred to a non-supervisory position as soon as he could.
At Kwajalein I worked with the technical elite. There were PhDs from Stanford, MIT and the like. There were people with engineering masters degrees with ten years of very high tech design and development experience. A number of these have gone on to be nationally recognized leaders in electronic technology. There were highly skilled and experienced non-degreed technicians. Almost all these people had mission critical jobs. The highly technical and nationally visible work of the organization depended on their efforts.
But on the logistics side, the carpenters, plumbers, painters, electricians, groundskeepers, garbage collectors--all the people upon whom the daily life of the community depended--stories were rife of unreasonable and abusive bosses, empire builders, liars, swindlers....
I hear of abusive work places often enough to suspect that rudeness to inferiors hasn't quite been entirely stamped out in the USA.
RNJ
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