Could honor culture return as the norm in the US?
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The US once had a predominant honor culture where insult could not stand and led to duels among “men of honor”. What caused this to fall from normalcy in the US? Was it enlightenment values and science? This culture seems to persist to a greater degree in the US South, why? If we presume this arose from a need to rely on cultural controls where more modern solutions did not yet exist, we can understand the need to shame and use other means of social control.
How do we reconcile the concepts today and how do we address new cultures rising in significant numbers in America who may rely more heavily on honor culture that many Americans may not completely understand? How do we educate each other on expectations? What rules, culture or our current system of laws? Should the laws change to fit this new culture? Is there a happy medium between the culture prevalent in western democracies, presumably based on enlightenment values and culture based on honor? Will a return to honor culture bring a rise in patriarchy or is honor culture purely an outgrowth of patriarchy?
More here: http://blog.yalebooks.com/2017/06/20/southern-honor-culture-and-the-united-states-congress/ and
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/author-interviews/honor-in-colonial-america/
Here is one definition of honor culture: https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/cultural-psychology/culture-of-honor/
More information: http://honorshame.com/12-proven-facts-about-honor-cultures/
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhwrOJvPfBw
This seems to be more prevalent in the US south as noted in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and as noted here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_honor_(Southern_United_States). A bit more here:
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/manly-honor-part-v-honor-in-the-american-south/
If there is interest, a follow on discussion of the question of what is America as the talking points above may be in order. How do we reconcile the concepts today – are we a country in which we are organized by tribes and we have our own mores and we must “look out for our own”? or are we a commonwealth where we are our brothers’ keepers – how can we be both? Are these rural v. urban distinctions or is it more complicated? Are we a nation of individual freedoms and total self-reliance or are we a nation with societal safety nets available to all be agreed to law? How will this be shaped by the rise of new voting blocks from groups traditionally silent or disenfranchised? Does it matter if our votes are overridden by bad actors or voters are not educated?
Phew, that's plenty! See you soon...
Could honor culture return as the norm in the US?