what is conduct literature?

Social conduct literature consists on published documents
aiming to somewhat control the population by consistently pointing out morality and how
to live a virtuous life. The importance of this type of literature is more historical
than social, when we look in a broader perspective. This is because
these publishings show how society has changed throughout time, and how people have
evolved with it. Moreover, social conduct literature enables the modern reader to go
back in time and probably be shocked to find out what once was considered "acceptable"
or "unacceptable" behavior, and the reasons why they were considered
so.

This type of literature first came out during the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance and, as it is known, only men were permitted to author
work during that time. Once the printing press was created and put to use, the books
became even more predominant on their own accord and were printed
consistently.

During the Victorian times the social conduct
literature books were of essence. You have, for example, Mrs. Beeton writing books on
advice and "how to's" for a diversity of social situations. Religious, virtuous and
somewhat prudish literature is also considered social conduct
literature.

Even during the 20th century we have a number
of etiquette publications and social concern magazines that also aim to tell readers
about maintaining a style and propriety in conduct. To some people this may sound
snobbish, but in reality there should be a baseline that can establish a specific set
of behaviors that can differentiate people who stick to traditional norms from those who
do not. Personally, I advocate modern social literature and I even collect antique books
on social conduct from the 19th century. There is a wealth of information one can take
from those amazing books.