Southern culture of honor

“Culture of Honor” is a term generally used to describe the American southern culture and is related to the use of violence for the purpose of maintaining a reputation. This quality is viewed to be important for a man in any region where gaining resources and keeping them depends on the community’s belief that the man can protect those resources against predators. Toughness is a strong value in such a culture because of its effect on the deterrence of such predators from one’s possessions. In order to maintain this sort of reputation in the community, one must always be on guard and respond to any insult or threat with violence or present a warning of violence. According to Hayes in "Re-examining the Subculture of Violence in the South", “the term 'honor' as defined here has more to do with the willingness to use violence when it is expected than the more traditional definition of bravery or moral character.”ref|Hayes It is a common belief that the cause of high violence rates in the Southern United States is due to this cultural quality.fact|date=April 2008

Background

Originally, there were good social and economic reasons for southerners to have qualities characteristic of a “culture of honor.” The “culture of honor” in the Southern United States is believed to have its roots in the qualities of the early settlers who first inhabited the region. Unlike the farmers (mainly from England and Scotland) who originally settled in Northern United States, the Southern United States was settled by herder from the very rural regions of Britain. These herdsmen were known to be very aggressive and protective to the point of violence over their most valuable asset, their animals. Back when the country was first settled, possessions were very vulnerable to theft because of the sparse Human settlement of the region. It was difficult for the law to control everything that occurred in such a scattered area. Southerners felt it was their responsibility to protect themselves so as a result, they developed the mindset of “cross me, and I’ll punish you” which many believe is the beginning of the “culture of honor” social quality of Southern United States.

In Southern Culture

The main element in a “culture of honor” is that a participant must be prepared to protect his reputation of toughness and strength with violence if necessary. According to Shackelford in the article, An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Cultures of Honor, “Such cultures are particularly likely to develop where (1) a man’s resource holdings can be thieved in full by other men and (2) the governing body is weak or nonexistent and thus cannot prevent or punish theft.”ref|Shackelford These two qualities are consistent with past southern culture. In order to be successful in an environment such as Southern United States, a man had to reduce the chances of theft or attack from thieves and criminals by building their reputations for strength and toughness. The only way to accomplish this was to show willingness to resort to violence. Most studies that have been conducted on this subject have used only men as subjects because possessions in the southern culture were normally obtained and controlled by the head of the household which was a man in most cases. Dov Cohen and Richard E. Nisbett performed a study called Insult, Aggression, and the Southern Culture of Honor: An “Experimental Ethnography” to examine how the characteristics of a “culture of honor” are noticeable in the characteristics of southern White males. Participants in the study were University of Michigan students who either grew up in Northern United States or in Southern United States. Three experiments were performs in which the participants were insulted by a confederate who bumped into the participant and called them an “asshole.” Results of this experiment show that while northerners were relatively unaffected by the comment, southerners showed many different reactions such as (a) more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened, (b) more upset (as shown by a rise in cortisol levels), (c) more physiologically primed for aggression (as shown by a rise in testosterone levels), (d) more cognitively primed for aggression, and (e) more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior."ref|Cohen All of these results are related to the expected characteristics of an individual raised with a “culture of honor” mentality and support the strength of this type of culture in the South.

Persistence of the “Culture of Honor”

The “culture of honor” mentality began back when Southern United States was first settled for various economic and social reasons based on the time period, so why does it still persist today? In their study, Cohen and Nisbett mention that violence in the South based on homicide that were argument- or conflict-related (not committed while another felony such as robbery is being performed) are much higher relative to the North showing a much stronger reaction of southerners to protection based conflicts. “Culture of honor” norms are embodied in the region’s laws as well as seen in looser gun control laws and less restrictive self-defense laws. Nisbett and colleagues suggest that the persistence of these qualities have occurred because of the achieved degree of “functional autonomy.” That is, it has been characteristic of southern culture for so long and pasted from generation to generation that it has just been socially accepted and continued. Also, themes of “culture of honor” can be noticed in many past and contemporary country music songs that are generally related to southern culture.

Women and the “Culture of Honor”

Although “culture of honor” qualities have been generally associated with men in the southern United States, women in this region have also been affected and even shown some of the same qualities. Nisbett and colleagues suggest that this may be due to some extent the response to the workings of the male mind. Women responses to male expression of “culture of honor” qualities have evolved over time and have changed by attending to these qualities shown in men. Anecdotal evidence shows that southern white women play an important role in socializing sons (but not daughters) to be attentive to insults and to respond with violence if necessary in order to protect their own honor and social reputation. However, much research remains to be conducted on women’s role in the development and maintenance of cultures of honor.

References

* Cite web | title= "Re-examining the Subculture of Violence in the South" | work = Timothy C. Hayes, Diss. Louisiana State U, 2006 | url='http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07022006-123237/unrestricted/Hayes_dis.pdf| accessdate=April 16 | accessyear=2008

* Cite web | title= "An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Cultures ofHonor" | work = Todd K. Shackelford, "Evolutionary Psychology". 3. 2005. 381-391 | url='http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/ep03381391.pdf| accessdate=April 16 | accessyear=2008

* Cite web | title= "Insult, Aggression, and the Southern Culture of Honor: An "Experimental Ethnography" | work = Dov Cohen, Richard E. Nisbett, Brian F. Bowdle & Norbert Schwarz, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 70. No. 5. May 1996. 945-960 | url='http://chiron.valdosta.edu/mawhatley/9710/honor.htm| accessdate=April 16 | accessyear=2008