Honor Related Violence

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

“…Failing to respond or retaliate against dishonorable conduct is interpreted as a sign of dishonor and may cause a loss of social support, identity, and a loss of a man’s all personal values in the eyes of others. Other scholars have also made similar observations (Ermers, 2018; Spierenburg, 1998) and explained that though the degree of application differs greatly from society to society, settling or redeeming an affair of dishonor through violence has a long tradition.…”

“…Thus, “the opposite of social death is commonly understood to be a social existence, a social or meaningful/worthy life” (Králová, 2015, p. 244). As argued by Ermers (2018), in the communities or societies where honor killings tend to occur if the status of honor is equated with the concept of a meaningful social life and related notions such as reputation, prestige, morality, integrity, and trustworthiness, then its counterpart—the concept and experience of dishonor—must be connected to opposite notions, such as social death, stigmatization, and alienation. Seen from this perspective, the concept seems to be relevant and has a potential to provide a meaningful explanation for some honor killing cases.…”

“…Although available published data underline the important role of pressure and exclusion in honor killings (Hoyek, Sıdawi, & Mrad, 2005; Husseini, 2009; Onal, 2008; Sev’er & Yurdakul, 2001; Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 2003; Van Eck, 2003; Yirmibesoglu, 2007) and suggest that the psychological well-being of men in cultures of honor might be particularly weak (Baker, Gregware, & Cassidy, 1999; Cihangir, 2012; Osterman & Brown, 2011; Polk, 1994), a thorough search of the relevant literature shows that a very few studies have specifically addressed the issue of whether honor killings can be explained with the concept of social death (Alkhatib, 2012; Ermers, 2018; Ermers, Goedee, Albrecht, & De Jong, 2010; Shah, 2016). Social death occurs when the value of a person in his own eyes and in the eyes of the other is profoundly lost.…”

Assessing the Importance of Internal and External Self-Esteem and Their Relationship to Honor Concerns in Six Countries

“…It could be the case that if honor is threatened or lost in a culture classified as an honor culture, that one’s internal and external report of self-esteem decreases, but that it does not affect components of self-esteem in, for example, a dignity culture. However, threats to one’s honor or moral reputation arise from specific social interactions in which the cause of the threat, the extremity of the threat, the relevance of the social environment, and the options to restore or protect one’s honor differ tremendously across situations and communities (Ermers, 2018; Van Osch, 2017). The “cultural logics” of dignity, face, and honor were introduced as only one factor contributing to the effect the interaction between culture × person × situation has on psychological and behavioral outcomes (Leung & Cohen, 2011).…”