Incivilities are usually perpetrated demonstratively, with a malicious and disruptive spirit – or with indifference or carelessness to the effects they may have on people.
Social incivilities include anything that degrades human relations:
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lack of manners (passing in front of others, jostling, etc.)
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rudeness (not saying “sorry” or “thank you”, etc.)
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refusal to respect the needs of others (ignoring the needs of an elderly person on a bus, etc.)
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disruptive behavior (noise, obstructions, etc.)
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boorishness (embarrassing acts, rude gestures and vocabulary, threatening attitudes, etc.)
Material incivilities include anything that damages property or the environment (garbage, graffiti, urine, vandalism, etc.).
Incivilities are a lack of good manners that reflect a failure to respect one’s own human values (desire for respect, consideration, appreciation, empathy…) and one’s own moral values (don’t do to others what you don’t want for yourself).
Other definitions:
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Lack of courtesy, politeness. An act or behavior that shows ignorance or rejection of the basic rules of social life.
Petit Larousse, 2003.
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An extraordinarily wide range of social nuisances that do not physically harm people, but disrupt the basic rules of social life that enable trust.
Source: Sebastian Roché, La société incivile, 1996.
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A variety of nuisances (noise, graffiti, damage to public property, littering, etc.) disrupt social life, by violating the basic rules of good manners on which mutual trust is based.
Source: Young people and violence. Pour une prévention efficace dans la famille, l’école, l’espace social et les médias, Federal Council Report, 20.5.09, Switzerland
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Behavior that does not respect some or all of the rules of community life, such as respect for others, politeness or courtesy.
Lack of courtesy or politeness, either in deed or in word. (…)
Source: Wikipedia