Culture of Honor (Southern United States) - Background

Background

The "culture of honor" in the Southern United States is hypothesized by some social scientists to have its roots in the livelihoods of the early settlers who first inhabited the region. Unlike settlers with an agricultural heritage (mainly from the densely populated South East England and East Anglia) who settled in New England, the Southern United States was settled by herders from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Northern England and the West Country. Herds, unlike crops, are vulnerable to theft because they are mobile and there is little government wherewithal to enforce property rights of herd animals. Developing a reputation for violent retribution against those who stole herd animals was one way to discourage theft.

According to Todd K. Shackelford in "An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Cultures of Honor," "uch cultures are particularly likely to develop where (1) a man’s resource holdings can be thieved in full by other men and (2) the governing body is weak or nonexistent and thus cannot prevent or punish theft." These two qualities are consistent with past Southern culture. In order to be successful in an environment such as Southern United States, a man had to reduce the chances of theft or attack from thieves and criminals by building their reputations for strength and toughness. The only way to accomplish this was to show willingness to resort to violence.

These social scientists compare the culture of honor found in the Southern United States to similar cultural values found in other subsistence economies dependent upon herding and places with weak governments.

This thesis is limited, however, by modern evidence that a culture of honor in the American South is strongest not in the hill country, where this thesis suggests it has its cultural origins, but in Southern lowlands. These observers argue that poverty or religion, which has been distinctive in the American South since the Second Great Awakening in the 18th century, may be a more important source of this cultural phenomenon.

The Southern culture of honor is associated with such distinctive elements of the American political culture as dueling (particularly in the American South and involving Southerners) and the concept of a gentleman, as espoused by individuals such as Robert E. Lee, which remains a part of United States military law (although the Uniform Code of Military Justice now expressly bans dueling). It is also associated with the idea of a blood feud, a characterization given to many deadly conflicts between families in Appalachia.