Honor is a claim to worth along with the social acknowledgement of worth. It serves as social rating that entitles a person to interact in specific ways with his or her equals, superiors, and subordinates, according to the prescribed cultural cues of the society. The correlate of honor is shame . Click here for examples. Honor , in first-century Mediterranean society, marks one as powerful and one's place on the social ladder, rating one's place in society which determines how one may interact with equals, superiors, and subordinates.
Shame is an important correlate of honor in an honor culture.
Honor, which is a claim to worth along with the social acknowledgement of worth, is the highest goal. Shame, the trait that people wish to avoid at all costs, is bestowed on someone when honor is lost in a challenge-response exchange or is passively acquired when a person is born into a low social class, when a person's family is shamed, or when a notable person bestows it. Any slight one either party's part results in shame and dishonor on the offending party. In the New Testament, this is usually called discipleship, though it may have different names outside of the New Testament. In all cases, the issue is the response of humans at the level of their practices.