Honor Bound: How a Cultural Ideal Has Shaped the American Psyche

by Ryan P. Brown

"Culture of honor" is what social scientists call a society that organizes social life around maintaining and defending reputation. In an honor culture, because reputation is everything, people will go to great lengths to defend their reputations and those of their family members against real and perceived threats and insults.While most human societies throughout history can be described as "honor cultures," the United States is particularly well known for having a deeply rooted culture of honor, especially in the American South and West. In Honor Bound, social psychologist Ryan P. Brown integrates social science research, current events, and personal stories to explore and explain how honor underpins nearly every aspect of our lives, from spontaneous bar fights to organized acts of terrorism, romantic relationships, mental health and well-being, unsportsmanlike conduct in football, the commission of suicide, foreign policy decisions by political leaders, and even how parents name their babies.Sometimes the effects of living in an honor culture are subtle and easily missed-there are fewer nursing homes in the American south, as more parents live with their children as they age-and sometimes the effects are more dramatic, as in the fact that there are more school shootings in honor states, but they are always relevant. By illuminating a surprising and pervasive thread that has endured in our culture for centuries, Brown's narrative will captivate those raised in these types of honor cultures who wish to understand themselves, and those who wish to better understand their neighbors.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2016

Reviews

[Kristine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just awful, I could not get over the tone and inane connections to his life story. Had to read for bookclub and wished I had skipped the meeting. In all of the models he talked about, he did not publish the models, IVs and DVs, and did not even bother to look at poverty as an alternative hypothesis. Just awful.

[0101101 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Page 16, author refers to “police officers in Charlotte, South Carolina.”
Charlotte is in NORTH Carolina. (Charleston is in South Carolina.)
An error that obvious 16 pages into a book pretending to be more than a pop culture comment on the social trends of 2016 (when it was published) makes me reluctant to spend more time on it. Apparently poorly edited and sloppily pulled together.

[Kenneth Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating theory explaining violence in America as (partly) a result of generational/ethnic violence brought from Irish-Scot settlers in the 18th century. Data rich, and a bit drawn-out in length.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I put it down pretty quickly because it does nothing to examine the race and class issues inherent in a culture of honor and how it has been twisted in the American sense. Waste of academic ink.

[Laura Skladzinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about Honor Culture on the Hidden Brain podcast, and was fascinated, so I immediately picked up this book. In an honor culture, reputation is the most important thing, and people will defend their honor at all costs. There were a lot of compelling and thought-provoking examples of how this plays out and the long-term implications, but somehow the book just didn't keep me reading, even as each time I sat down to read it I found it enjoyable and learned something. It ended up taking me a month to pick it up again and finish the last few chapters... but maybe that was just me? I do think the ideas are absolutely fascinating, and I've been searching out more information since I finished this.