Is there a right and a wrong way of doing things? How do we decide what they are? For our Book of the Month event, author and cultural studies scholar Kirsty Sedgman looks into questions around manners and behaviour, to explore the lines we draw between good vs. bad, appropriate vs. inappropriate, polite vs. rude.
In a world where no-one seems to be able to agree on anything, how do we decide what is considered to be ‘reasonable’?
Whether it’s breastfeeding in public or tearing down statues of slave traders, there are social codes for what is considered ‘decent’, ‘disrespectful’ or ‘common sense’. But who defines these parameters? Where did the rules come from in the first place, and are they actually what’s best for us today? In a world where we all think we’re being reasonable, how can we figure out what’s right?
Kirsty Sedgman joins us to examine the prejudices, biases and idiosyncrasies that make up our modern social contract, and how we have become divided along lines of gender, class, disability, sexuality and race.
Sometimes, breaking the rules might make things better.
Kirsty Sedgman’s On Being Unreasonable: Breaking the Rules and Making Things Better is Bristol Ideas February Book of the Month.