Excellent! Used in Master's Thesis: Southern Land Abuse. | Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in...

Social Science at its best | Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South | Richard E Nisbett, Dov Cohen

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	• Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South Richard E Nisbett, Dov Cohen Westview Press, 1996 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Excellent Scientific Study

This is an excellent scientific study which methodically argues several strains of evidence to support the overarching theory. The arguments are very well supported with many graphs and data tables.

Excellent! Used in Master's Thesis: Southern Land Abuse.

Excellent book! Used in my M.P.A. Thesis (ARP) literature review for "DO MESS WITH IT! A Sociopolitical Study of Littering and the Role of Southern and Nearby States" (www.uweb.txstate.edu/~ps07/sspacekabs.html). Nisbett and Chen mention the historical yet negative effects of prevailing Scotch-Irish temperament dominating the entire Southern United States. An "absence of the state" and the region's remote population and geography conspired against law enforcement demanding citizen compliance with regulatory edicts. "A man's personal strength," not always based on good character, determined his social credibility, leading to a might makes right mindset and accompanying violence--"a Culture of Honor." My thesis takes Nisbett and Chen further to plausibly explain why this "Culture" helps contribute to a negative legacy of southern environmental attitudes: a corrupt, elitist, Traditionalistic Political Culture; leading high state murder rates; year after year low quality-of-life scores (in comparison to non-southern states).

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Social Science at its best

The culture of honor is a fascinating look at the role that cultural traditions can play in determining the incidence of homocide and other forms of violence. What I liked most about the book was the way Nisbett and Cohen used all the tools of social science, from survey and archival research to clever laboratory experiments to test their thesis. The way in which they "broke down" their data was particularly convincing. For instance they showed that where cultural influences were strongest(for example, in small towns rather than big cities)the North-South differences in homocide rates were greatest.While there were a lot of statistical tables and graphs, the book was easy and entertaining to read. I would especially recommend it for people who are interested in understanding about regional differences in American ideas about taking the law into your own hands, and for undergraduates who want to get a good look at the way social scientists can tackle complicated questions.

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In the United States, the homicide rate in the South is consistently higher than the rate in the North. In this brilliantly argued book, Richard Nisbett and Dov Cohen use this fact as a starting point for an exploration of the underlying reasons for violence.According to Nisbett and Cohen, the increased tendency of white southerners to commit certain kinds of violence is not due to socioeconomic class, population density, the legacy of slavery, or the heat of the South; it is the result of a culture of honor in which a man?s reputation is central to his economic survival. Working from historical, survey, social policy, and experimental data, the authors show that in the South it is more acceptable to be violent in response to an insult, in order to protect home and property, and to aid in socializing children. These values are reflected not only in what southerners say, but also in the institutional practices of the South, the actions of Southerners, and their physiological responses to perceived affronts.In this lively and intriguing account, the authors combine bold theory and careful methodology to reveal a set of central beliefs that can contribute to increased violence. More broadly, they show us the interaction between culture, economics, and individual behavior. This engaging study will be of interest to students, educated lay readers, and scholars.

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