Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South, written by Richard Nisbett and Dov Cohen discuss and explain violence found in the South. For decades, the American South has been viewed as more violent than the North. According to Nisbett and Cohen (1996):
“The US South has long been viewed as a place of romance, leisure and gentility, Southerners have been credited with warmth, expressiveness, spontaneously, close family ties, a love of music and sports, and an appreciation for the things that made life worth living- from cuisine to love.”
Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South analyzes the use of violence found in the South by males for several reasons and state it is not due to socioeconomic status, population, the remembrance of slavery, or from the temperature the South being hot. The Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence believes in how white southerners commit certain kinds of violence is due to a culture of honor in which a man's reputation is
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dominant to his economic endurance. I found several interesting points in Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence, the first being that the South is a more violent region and that because of violence from arguments happens more than any other crime. Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence displays evidence that includes archival, survey experimental and field experimental methods. The book states the values of a culture of honor exists even after the other factors of violence, such as poverty, education level, and the frequency of gun use are involved. There was a lot of information throughout the book that was hard to follow and I had a difficult time really understanding the concept of a culture of honor because of the statements that I felt was unorganized throughout the book. Another interesting point mentions in the book was how Richard Nisbett and Dov Cohen use survey data to observe cultural beliefs towards violence. Some of the data stated that Southerners do not favor violence in general, but only at certain times, such as self-protection and social control. This is one reason why southerners could be politer. Southerner’s will not allow a discussion to become disorderly unless they are ready to deal with the possible violence. Even with me having a difficult time really following the Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South, I did find the books credibility to be valued. The information from the charts did display a better understanding of the interaction between culture, economics, and individual behavior. When doing further research on the honor among Southerners and why it leads to violence, the article Southern Discomfort: The Effects of Stereotype Threat on the Intellectual Performance of US Southerners discussed and analyze the stereotype of the South with group testing. Clark and Guadagno, (2011) found that “When stereotypes were made salient prior to taking a test of intellectual ability, southerners performed worse compared to when awareness of stereotypes was relatively low.” In the first two studies participants were told that either ‘‘individuals from northern states tend to perform better than individuals from southern states’’(Study 1), or that “regional differences in test performance have been documented” (Study 2). In Studies 3 and 4 Clark and Guadagno, (2011) also found that the intellectual performance of southerners could be undermined in other ways, either by exposure to a Confederate flag (Study 3) or one or several other ways of expressing their level of identity as southerners (Study 4). The Study 4 results also showed that the degree of which the test subject identified predicted susceptibility to these effects. According to the report, “Specifically, higher importance placed on being a southerner was linked to greater proneness to the performance-inhibiting effects of stereotype threat.” (Clark and Guadagno, 2011) After reading the article, I started thinking about at what age and how the young begin to develop a culture of honor. Is this something that a father teaches a son? I also begin to wonder what happens when a son does withhold a culture of honor stereotype situation. Does the father feel dishonored or gain respect for the son who defended his honor? The following information provided an insight to my questions. Research by Sedem and Ferrer (2015) “Fear of the loss of honor: Implications of honor-based violence for the development of youth and their families” looked at honor based norms by interviewing young women and their families. According to Sedem and Ferrer, Fathers reported a fear of loss of honor and the resulting social exclusion. (Sedem and Ferrer, 2015) Though a major debate still seems to exist on the causes of Honor Based Violence, it is pretty apparent that the cultural and religious structural rules that these fathers and other family members follow are to blame. A savage and crewel nature is required to carry out violence among close family members who depend on them for protection instead of pain, shame, fear, and even death. After reading Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South my views about social psychology or human interactions and what my emotions, behaviors, and physiological reactions would come about if I was confronted in a violent argument and felt the need to honor my inner self culture. I am not a violent person, I believe I would be able to control myself during a heated argument, but at what point does an individual start to defend his honor? How much verbal abuse should a man take before he puts a stop to it? Rodgers, (2014) states in her article “Go Forth in Anger” that “Researchers are amassing evidence that anger is a potent form of social communication, a logical part of people’s emotional tool kit.” (Rodgers, 2014) Rogers added that “levels of the stress hormone cortisol drop, suggesting that anger helps people calm down and get ready to address a problem—not run from it” (Rodgers, 2014) The book “Culture of Honor” by Nisbett and Cohen, who try to explain why violence is so high in the south found elements that were studied as potentials causes of violence; “poverty, hot temperatures, and their traditions of slavery,” it true that “anger is a potent form of social communication,” like Rogers explains and yet maybe instinctive and considered appropriate: “the norm” for some living in the south.
Those who are living below the poverty line my become very territorial and have little tolerance for those who may pose a threat of losing what little they have and its possible that being uncomfortable and miserable in the heat can further fuel anger, I don’t think that people in the south found stress helped them calm down or fueled their need to solve problems head on. It’s fair to say that honor can have a different meaning from person to person or family to family. Tradition plays a part, as attitudes maybe passed down from one generation to
another. My over-all thoughts on the Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South I feel that the culture of honor depends on the individual and the incident that provoke the need to defend your livelihood and goes beyond a culture that is easily on the defensive.
What The South Intends. THE CHRISTIAN RECORDERS August 12, 1865, Print. James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer.
But unlike the 1800’s, our population has become more mobile. A “Yankee” from the North can live, and prosper, in the Deep South. On the same token, a “Southern Bell” can move to New York City and make it big on Broadway. We are much more intertwined and that may be the anchor that is holding us together, today.
The case under review occurred in the city of Newton against a backdrop of economic decline, political disenchantment, and a widening racial divide. A Newton High School senior,Sheila Allison, is accused by her teacher of plagiarizing a book review. Mrs. Durnitz, the teacher, reported to the school principal that Sheila admitted to taking material from the web but claimed she did not know that doing so constituted plagiarism. The district’s policy states that students found guilty of plagiarism must receive a failing grade and repeat the course. Mrs. Durnitz feels that Sheila, having a copy of the student handbook in which plagiarism is discussed, should have known that what she did violated the policy. The teacher also believes that the policy, drafted by the teachers who teach honors classes and approved by the administration, must be followed to the letter despite any extenuating circumstances.
In American culture, the South has more or less been stereotyped and degraded in various ways, which naturally brings about a sense of defensiveness. The southerners stick together to defe...
Kentucky was a small town in the Appalachian Mountains, where two warring families fought each other to the death during the early 19th century. Harlan wasn’t the only town in the Appalachian Mountains that grew restless, but several others as well were erupting in bloodshed. The explanation for this behavior is tied back to something called “the culture of honor”. It was in their culture, that if a person kills one person from the family, the member of this family must kill the killer of their family member. Their culture legacy affects them negatively, and they are retaliating up to now, and killing each other. All this bad situation is the cause of their negative cultural legacies. Imagine how tough culture, it was, that a mother told for his injured son “go fight and die like a man like your brother did”. They were able to change their negative culture in a positive one, to have a save society, but they didn’t do that, and That’s how lots of people lost and losing their life cause of a negative culture in Harlan
Many wonderful memories come to mind when I think about my life growing up in the South. Family barbeques, friendly people, and neighbors that will help you in a time of need are only a few of the good things about growing up in the South. Neighbors will knock on your door and ask to borrow some sugar. Friends will bring you homemade soup when you are sick. There is almost always a kind person to help you if you are stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire. The South if full of wonderful people. If there were ever a natural disaster such as a hurricane, the best place to be is in the South because we pull together and help one another in times of need. Southern culture has taught me many good values that I live by even today.
Tio Hardiman, the creator of the Violence Interrupters Program, said, “You can give them a history lesson. Your daddy was violent, your granddaddy was violent, and your great granddaddy was violent. And now your brothers are messed up because you misled them” (James et al., 2012). He is describing how violence is a learned behavior from your family and close peers. Hardiman goes on to tell a little about his own family’s history with violence. When he was fourteen, a man tried to hurt him in the streets, but his stepfather killed the man right in front of him, and he recalls feelings good about it. This family taught him violence was okay through their own
Of all the areas with which the southerners contended, the socio-political arena was probably their strongest. It is in this area that they had history and law to support their assertions. With the recent exception of the British, the slave trade had been an integral part of the economies of many nations and the slaves were the labor by which many nations and empires attained greatness. Souther...
In order to come to terms with defeat and a look of failure in the eyes of God, Southerners mentally transformed their memories of the antebellum South. It became a superior civilization of great purity which had been cruelly brought down by the materialistic Yankees.
Southern hospitality is the best in the world. People that live in the South are very nice and are always willing to help another person in any way they can. If someone is from out of town and needs directions to a certain place southerners will make sure he or she knows how to get there before he or she leaves them. Southerners are very polite. Every time we pass someone on the rode, we are going to wave at him or her. Towns in the South have fewer people and everyone knows everyone. The people in the South are nicer than anywhere else in the United States.
The rest of the article went on to elaborate on how the American attachment to "dominance models of manhood," according to Amanda Marcotte of Salon, is a significant factor as to why or culture has such high levels of violence. Supporting aggressiveness, physicality, and anger within masculinity makes it toxic and harms
Many psychologists have studied the effect of the media on an individual’s behavior and beliefs about the world. There have been over 1000 studies which confirm the link that violence portrayed through the media can influence the level of aggression in the behavioral patterns of children and adults (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). The observed effects include, increased aggressiveness and anti-social behavior towards others, an increased fear of becoming a victim or target of aggressive behavior, becoming less sensitive to violence and victims of violent acts, and concurrently desiring to watch more violence on television and in real-life (A.A.P. 2001). According to John Murray of Kansas State University, there are three main avenues of effects: direct effects, desensitization, and the Mean World Syndrome (Murray, 1995, p. 10). The direct effects of observing violence on television include an increase in an individual’s level of aggressive behavior, and a tendency to develop favorable attitudes and values about using violence to solve conflicts and to get one’s way. As a result of exposure to violence in the media, the audience may become desensitized to violence, pain, and suffering both on television and in the world. The individual may also come to tolerate higher levels of aggression in society, in personal behavior, or in interpersonal interactions. The third effect is known as the Mean World Syndrome, which theorizes that as a result of the amount of violence seen on television and also the context and social perspective portrayed through the media, certain individuals develop a belief that the world is a bad and dangerous place, and begin to fear violence and victimization in real life (A.A.P. 2001).
Everyone wants to be respected and it is believed that the reason for the most crimes is that people are not respected the way that they believe they should be. Violence as respect is how most people survive. They dress and act a certain way to intimidate people. They get in fights to show people how tough they are and that should be respected and not pushed around. Most people in the cities that get into fights and want to be respected are poor, African American, and men. Prostitution as violence against women is an example because they might not have another way of making money to support
Wild turkey, deer jerky, tough as Tarzan's feet. Hot women skinny swimmin' barely bellybutton deep Turn muddy river water into sweet, sweet tea Hay loft lovin' in the holler’ hind the house No doubt about it, What I Love About The South Loretta Lynn, Maker's Mark That's Kentucky as can be Jack Daniels, Dolly Parton Oh, the hills of Tennessee Finger pickin', bluegrass blowing in the wind around here We believe the book of John and we drive John Deeres [SIC],” Written by Rodney Akins in his song What I Love About The South. Now after listen to this line, how could you not love the south it honestly just makes sense. Rodney’s logos achieved this response from this audience. In the song, What I Iove about the South there is not one negative sentence about the south. If you think about it logically if there are, only pros to the south why not go and see what all the fuss is about. When we as humans make logical decisions we sit down and make a pros and cons list. If you make your list after sitting down and listen to this song, you would have a long list of pros and nothing in the cons column. This is because Rodney paints a picture that the south is a place of simple fun, unity, community, good eating and where nothing ever goes wrong. Rodney also builds trust as he shares his experiences and feelings with the listener throughout the song, which is just another component to building strong logos. Let us take a
The Warrior’s Honour by Michael Ignatieff conveys the harsh realities of ethnic war to the reader. It opens a window to pictures and experiences that most cannot, and do not , think of on a daily basis. Michael Igantieff has experienced there realities as he travelled around the world in his work as a journalist, and it is in this book that he shares with us his thoughts and ideas about these war torn countries. In this paper I will review the book and discuss major themes and arguments, as well as the downfall and shortcomings of it.