Honor
Honor, usually spelt honour outside the United States of America, comprises the reputation, self-perception or moral identity of an individual or of a group.Previously honor figured largely as a guiding principle of society, functioning as part of a code of honor for a gentleman and often coming to expression in the practice of duelling. One's honor, that of one's wife, of one's (blood-)family or of one's beloved formed an all-important issue: the archetypal "man of honour" remained ever alert for any insult, actual or suspected: for either would impugn his honour.
The concept of honour appears to have declined in importance in the modern secular West. Popular stereotypes would have it surviving more definitively in alleged "hot-blooded" Mediterranean cultures (Italian, Arab, Hispanic ...) or in more "gentlemanly" societies (like the "Old South" of Dixie). Traces linger in the military (officers may conduct a court of honor) and in organisations with military echoes, such as Scouting.
"Honor" in the case of females historically related frequently to sexuality: preservation of "honor" equated primarily to maintenance of virginity, or at least to preservation of exclusive monogamy. One could speculate that feminism may have changed some linguistic usage in this respect.
One can contrast cultures of honor with cultures of law. From the viewpoint of anthropology, cultures of honor typically appear among nomadic peoples and herdsmen who carry their most valuable property with them and risk having it stolen, without having recourse to law enforcement or government. In this situation, inspiring fear forms a better strategy than promoting friendship; and cultivating a reputation for swift and disproportionate revenge increases the safety of your person and property. Thinkers ranging from Montesquieu to Steven Pinker have remarked upon the mindset needed for a culture of honor.
Cultures of honor therefore appear amongst Bedouins, Scottish and English herdsmen of the Border country, and many similar peoples, who have little allegiance to a national government; among cowboys, frontiersmen, and ranchers of the American West, where law enforcement was often out of reach, as famously celebrated in Western movies; and among aristocrats, who enjoy hereditary privileges that put them beyond the reach of general laws. Cultures of honor also flourish in criminal underworlds and gangs, whose members carry large amounts of cash and contraband and cannot complain to the law if it is stolen. The encouragement of violent cultures of honor appears one of the drawbacks of legislation that creates victimless crimes.
Once a culture of honor exists, it is difficult for its members to make the transition to a culture of law; this requires that people become willing to back down and refuse to immediately retaliate, and from the viewpoint of the culture of honor this is a weak and unwise act.
In contemporary international relations, the concept of "credibility" resembles that of honour: when the credibility of a state or of an alliance appears at stake, honour-bound politicians may call for drastic measures.
Compare the concepts of integrity, face (social custom) in stereotyped Oriental cultures, or of mana in Polynesian society.
For a similar concept with many connotations opposite to honor, see shame.
See also: code duello, Chivalry, Bushido
In many countries an honour is an award given by the state. It may refer to a military medal, but more typically it means a civilian award, such as a British OBE, a knighthood or membership of the French Légion d'honneur.
See also: British honours system.
In medieval England, an honor was a great lordship, comprised of dozens or hundreds of manors. Attempts were often made to preserve the integrity of an honor over time, so that its properties were administered as a unit, inherited together, etc.
The typical honor had properties scattered over several shires, intermingled with the properties of others. Usually, though, there was a more concentrated cluster somewhere. Here would be located the caput (head) of the honor, with a castle that gave its name to the honor and was its administrative headquarters.
A lordship could consist of anything from a field or two to vast territories all over England. Thus honor can be used to distinguish the large from the small. The term is particularly useful for the eleventh and twelfth centuries, before the development of an extensive peerage hierarchy.
