Why are manners and respect so important?

Answer 1

Manners and respect are very important because they make a family, a group, or a community much more pleasant for everyone. That is the goal.

To look at it from the opposite perspective, that of a person who doesn't use manners or show respect. In effect, that person is prejudging others; they're saying that others don't deserve to be treated properly or with respect. In most cases, they have no way to know this. Even people we may not like are human beings and most have done good for others and upheld their responsibilities along the way in their life. So even if we don't personally like them, we owe them the same behavior and respect as those we do like.

The last piece of the 'why' is that when we, ourselves, don't use manners or show respect, we are making less of ourselves as human beings deserving of respect.

Answer 2

Manners have had many functions throughout history. Nowadays they are practiced almost exclusively to demonstrate respect for oneself and others, although the constant use of cell phones has changed the landscape of manners and etiquette, more than likely forever. Nevertheless, leaving things the way you found them, replacing things you break; not talking loudly in a house of worship or theater, and allowing someone with two items to go ahead of you in line at the grocery store when you have a full cart all demonstrate respect for others' possessions, their comfort and their time.

Throughout history, manners have been used to demonstrate the differences between social classes, one's status within a class, and evidence of a formal education. The history of social behavior, which includes manners and etiquette, is long because it is a snapshot of a society at any given time. It is intriguing because it does change so rapidly, as fads, fashions and styles come and go.