Uncivil behavior has become more common and more accepted in society. And Americans are concerned about it. In fact, the demise of civility is one of the very few things that almost everyone seems to agree on.

The latest annual survey released by Weber Shandwick finds that 93% of Americans perceive incivility in society as a problem and almost 70% see it as a major problem. Respondents report experiencing almost 11 uncivil interactions per week, about 6 on social media and 5 outside social media.

Civility is not just about being nice. It’s about mutual respect and more.

Civility is also not an end in itself but rather we need to look at it as a means through which we can have the discourse we need to have.

And that’s what we talk about on this episode of the Outrage Overload podcast with Russ Charvonia, author of the book The Civility Mosaic and President of the Worldwide Civility Council. Russ and his colleagues literally wrote the book on civility. When they started their work, there was no entry for civility in Wikipedia. It simply said “see incivility.” Now, much of the content you see on the Wikipedia page for civility was contributed by Russ’s team.

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Civility Mosaic Book: https://civilitymosaic.com/

Worldwide Civility Council: https://www.civilitycouncil.org/

Certified Civil: https://www.certifiedcivil.org/

2023 Civility Conference: https://www.urgencyofcivility.org/

ASU Hugh Downs School of
Human Communication: https://humancommunication.asu.edu/

The Institute for Civil Dialogue: https://www.civil-dialogue.org/