Living according to etiquette manuals. Prescriptive texts in nineteenth-century Guadalajara

Abstract

The article examines various prescriptive texts—manuals of civility, catechisms, conduct books, school regulations and moralizing literature—that circulated in Mexico, particularly in the city of Guadalajara, during the nineteenth century. Through a historical-descriptive approach, the author analyzes works such as Carreño’s Manual de urbanidad y buenas maneras, Blanchard’s Lecciones de urbanidad, Murguía’s catechisms and other texts written in verse, dialogic form or exemplary narratives, all of which were used in schools, homes and religious spaces. The study shows that these materials not only defined socially acceptable and “proper” behavior but also reinforced social hierarchies, legitimized inequalities and established strict distinctions between male and female roles. Women were expected to embody modesty, chastity, obedience, bodily restraint and domestic virtue, while men were expected to exercise courtesy, self-control and moral authority. The article argues that such texts functioned as powerful cultural instruments that regulated everyday practices, shaped public and private morality and contributed to the construction of idealized models of femininity and masculinity. By exploring the norms, expectations and behavioral scripts these works transmitted—often through religious references, paternal advice or didactic storytelling—the article highlights how gender identities were formed, controlled and reproduced in nineteenth-century Guadalajara.