An American Culture Divide: Honor Culture

The program Hidden Brain that NPR broadcasts weekly recently aired a segment, Made of Honor, about honor culture. That strikes me as one source of the deep cultural divide that is tearing American society, politics and governance apart. This difference in cultural mindset tends to lead some modern Americans to distrust and dislike or even hate each other. I first came across this concept a few years ago, but this 54 minute broadcast lays it out with clarity and in detail. 

In brief, researchers believe that honor culture came to America mostly from southern Scotland immigrants. Most of those immigrants and their descendants settled mostly in the American south and west. Honor culture tends to thrive in small rural communities. In some contexts this can be a good thing. But when the honor of someone in such a community has received a threat to their honor, the results can be catastrophic. Even relatively small verbal insults to honor can lead to violence.

In a 2021 paper, To be Liked or Feared: Honor-Oriented Men’s Sensitivity to Masculine Reputation Concerns Depends on Status-Seeking Strategy, by the researcher interviewed for this program, Ryan Brown, the honor culture is described like this:

Cultures of honor are societies that strongly emphasize values of loyalty and integrity, as well as the need to defend and maintain one’s reputation. Research has focused heavily on men’s acquisition of repute as tough and masculine and their use of physical aggression for reputational defense, but much less is known about whether men display similar vigilance in managing their reputation for other elements of honor (e.g., loyalty, integrity). The two primary routes for men in honor cultures to acquire reputation—through acts of aggression or integrity—resemble evolutionary accounts of status acquisition in which men can gain status via dominance or prestige.

.... the present work tested the hypotheses that (1) honor endorsement would positively predict both status seeking strategies, (2) that dominance-strategists would be sensitive to masculinity threats and boosts, and (3) that honor-oriented men’s sensitivity to masculinity threats (and boosts) would be indirectly explained by the use of dominance-based, but not prestige-based, strategies to acquire status and reputation. Results supported these hypotheses. We also found evidence that the prestige-based strategy seemed to buffer against masculinity threats.

In honor culture the reputation of a person and their family is paramount. An insult can provoke a physical or sometimes violent reaction. Dignity culture mindsets tend to be less physically confrontational. One source described honor vs dignity culture differences like this: 

Honor cultures place importance on socially conferred worth, reputation, and a positive social image, all of which can be granted or taken away by others. In contrast, dignity cultures place importance on context independent, individual, and inherent worth, which is less affected by the social regard of others. Thus, responding to insults is more important in honor cultures than dignity cultures.

The soil that honor culture grows in: Two factors, (1) insecurity associated with poverty and economic instability, and (2) weak trust or belief in the rule of law tend to give rise to and maintain an honor culture mindset. When those two factors are prominent in a mindset, a solid personal reputation is needed to deal with both concerns, even if the concerns are mostly illusions. One's reputation is what will keep others from messing with a person, their family and their possessions. People know that a person with a solid reputation will respond aggressively and sometimes violently to threats or transgressions. Reputation is protection.

Although honor culture tends to be socially polite, threats or insults can easily and quickly escalate into physical confrontation or occasional violence. Because honor culture a social norm, it carried over into modern America even though the conditions that honor culture arose in centuries ago in Scotland[1] are no longer relevant. In a dignity culture, a person tends to retain their social status, but in an honor culture, lost status tends to be hard or impossible to regain so it has to be actively defended, by force if deemed necessary.

What about politics?

Ryan Brown's research finds a consistent but only modest correlation with honor and conservatism. But if honor's perceived political opposition can be singled out and made to appear to be disrespectful, that can create an illusion that the opposition is an enemy and thus subject to harsh treatment. I suspect that is why phrases such as "the enemy of the people" is used by partisan propagandists to foment negative emotional responses against political opposition. In politics, the enemy is not right in front of the average person. From the broadcast it is not apparent how important honor is in partisan culture wars. I suspect it is not trivial (~10% influential?) but do not have an empirical basis to attach a level of influence.

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Topics touched on in the broadcast include these: 

32:30 - in experiments with actors staging a man verbally attacking his female partner, women in honor culture respond more positively to men showing honor in their attack - honor women try to soften a man's honor grounded attack in public more on a than when a woman is attacked on non-honor grounds (Tammy Wynett: Stand by Your Man)

35:00  - Afghanistan honor culture, probably the most extreme in the world - police responses to domestic violence generally favor men

36:15 - laws in honor states - stand your ground laws & castle doctrine self-defense rises in prominence over murder

~41:00 honor is in defense of self, family and group

42:00 mental health stigmas in honor culture - there is less investment in mental health care funding and availability in honor states 

43:30  honor and suicide - suicide from dishonor and self-inflicted shame among white men is higher, especially as age increases

~47:00 gun ownership - best predictor of suicide rates; suicide rate is higher in honor states than dignity states, regardless of gun ownership

48:13 - honor and politics - red vs blue states - consistent but modest connection between honor and conservatism; honor ideology disconnects from political ideology, but they can sometimes be combined - demonized political out-group in honor mindsets becomes the enemy and needs to be treated harshly (killed)

50:30 - honor means loyalty and caring for close people - but also it's sometimes a hair trigger for self-defense in face of disrespect

Footnote:

1. Honor cultures also arose in other places, including Africa and Asia. The most influential source in modern America appears to be the UK, mainly Scotland.