Can Honor Killings Be Explained With the Concept of Social Death? Reinterpreting Social Psychological Evidence

Abstract

This article uses the concept of social death to explore the experiences and motivations of perpetrators of honor killings in light of social psychological evidence. This analysis then seeks an explanation for some honor killing cases where ostracism or extreme social exclusion of the perpetrator has preceded the murder. I argue that in some honor killing cases, extreme rejection and exclusion may lead the individual to feel that he or she has no choice but to seek validation or approval through killing to be re-included and recognized by the community and family.

Women's Agency as Reason for Life Threats Among the Pashtuns in Pakistan: Narratives of Women Fleeing Honor Killing and Masculine Domination

“…This article also concludes that honor killing is embedded in the gender power relations of the society (Dayan, 2021;Doğan, 2019;Gengler et al, 2021;Qazalbash et al, 2019;Raza, 2006). A woman is the symbol of honor, and she can be killed with or without her consent.…”

“…Our findings suggest that men have cultural approval for committing VAW, firstly, to be recognized as a “real man” in the community and secondly, to not be excluded from the social structure of male dominance, which shows a dependency between violence and masculine domination. Perpetrators do honor killings to overcome shame and avoid social exclusion (Doğan, 2019). Indeed, we suggest that in the case of being reproached for losing control over their women and being measured as less manly, honor killing threats are more likely to occur when the men feel trapped in their masculinity by believing that they have lost their honor.…”

Uno de nosotros cometimos un crimen*: trayectorias en la construcción de víctimas de homicidios en jóvenes

“…Otro grupo de investigaciones abordan las experiencias emocionales del agresor. Se destaca que estos homicidios son una reacción extrema frente a experiencias de rechazo social padecidas por sus autores 11 , o un modo de expiar humillaciones vivenciadas como inevitables 6 . Finalmente, a partir del estudio de los contextos en los que se producen estas muertes se subrayan desigualdades sociopolíticas macro, meso y micro sociales 12,13 .…”