Silly or not, it was his discussion prompt so we as students are not off on a tangent. Here's the link for the article that he asked us to read about it. This particular professor is the Dean of the school. Also, just so you don't think I'm an inexperienced 24 year old fresh out of undergrad, the program is a professional part-time program that's being offered as a hybrid online and in-person program. Because of this we have a period of 2 weeks where we don't see each other or him in-person and our work is all online line via reading, discussion forums, and video conferencing for office hours and sessions with our TAs to discuss material further.

http://evonomics.com/resolve-fights-...ral-economics/

Anyhow, one person said it is an absolute known social contract that one does NOT recline seats in economy class. I tend not to on short flights or just a small amount but I know that many people do. Frankly, I only get irritated when they slam them back or forward with such force that they risk breaking laptops and spilling drinks. If my legs were long enough then I can see that slam back also banging knees but I don't personally have that issue. My feel is that while many people believe that one shouldn't recline it isn't a known social contract.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and input. I just wanted a sanity check on how much space we are talking about as I think sometimes people exaggerate.