Culture of Honor

Overview

Cultures of honor often have elaborate informal conventions about politeness, codes of conduct, and proper rules for redressing grievances. Honor cultures also tend to be characterized by extreme sensitivity to insult that must often be met with a violent response. Values associated with honor cultures include social interdependence, collectivism, emphasis on family, modesty (for females), and relatively traditional views about gender roles. Emotions tend to be centered around shame, pride, humiliation, and anger, but also politeness and respect. Thus, honor encompasses many things: It is a set of prescriptive norms outlining acceptable and unacceptable behavior between individuals, families, and social groups; it is a measure of an individual's social worth and self-esteem; and it is associated with the experience of several moral emotions.

The study of honor has a relatively long history in cultural anthropology, with detailed ethnographies focusing on Mediterranean and Middle Eastern honor cultures. More recently, social psychological research on honor, beginning with work by Richard Nisbett and Dov Cohen in the 1990s, [Page 182]has had as its main focus the study of aggression in the defense of male honor in the southern United States. Many other cultures around the world have strong honor traditions, including parts of Central and South America and many Islamic cultures.

In addition, certain subcultures such as the military, the Mafia and the world of organized crime, and subcultures within inner cities emphasize honor or related constructs. Thus, honor cultures can exist at the national or regional level (e.g., Spain, the southern United States), or they can exist in smaller units (e.g., military forces, inner-city street gangs). In short, a “culture” arises wherever interdependent groups of individuals share a common frame of reference. As individuals acquire knowledge of the attitudes, values, norms, and behavioral customs of the group, they become socialized members of the culture.

Development of Cultures of Honor

Cultures of honor tend to develop in places that have little or no formal law enforcement to redress grievances and thus requiring individuals to protect themselves. For example, much of the U.S. South and Southwest remained a largely lawless frontier relatively late in the settlement of the United States. Honor cultures also tend to develop in places where the economy is dependent upon a portable commodity for wealth. For instance, herding-based cultures often place strong emphasis on personal honor, because livestock (and thus, its owner's wealth) is susceptible to theft. In frontiers and herding-based cultures (as well as subcultures such as criminal gangs that operate beyond the reach of law enforcement), those men who can best cultivate a reputation for toughness and the quick use of aggression in response to challenges are often the most respected and enjoy the greatest social status.

...