They trace this to the fact that the South of the US was settled by people of Scottish descent, who traditionally had a culture of honor, whereas the ancestors of northeasterners, dominated by the English, did not. They further explain that the Scots had a culture of honor because they were herders. However, the argument that herding leads to cultures of honor stands on less firm ground. Wider cross-cultural analyses also appear to contradict the theory. In addition to presenting the data, I will give an account for why on theoretical grounds alone we might expect the herding theory of cultures of honor to fail.
Participants are primarily faculty and graduate students, coming from many fields.
To see the faculty who participate regularly, click here. Everyone is welcome to attend, and to volunteer to present research or suggest readings or topics for discussion. For a related group, see the Program for Psychocultural Studies and Medical Anthropology. Some papers to be discussed may be in PDF format, which can be read only if you have previously downloaded the free Adobe Acrobat Reader . This page is maintained by Tom Flamson.