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Overcoming low status or maintaining high status? A multinational examination of the relationship between socioeconomic status and honor

journal contribution
posted on 2025-01-31, 12:14 authored by Vivian VignolesVivian Vignoles, Alexander Kirchner-Häusler, Ayse UskulAyse Uskul
Mediterranean societies are often labelled as “honor cultures”, in contrast with presumed “dignity” and “face" cultures of Anglo-Western and East Asian societies. We measured these cultural logics in two large-scale surveys (Study 1&3: N = 2,942 students from 11 societies; Study 2: N = 5,471 adults from 14 societies). Middle Eastern and North African groups perceived honor values as most normative in their societies, followed by Southeast European, and then Latin European groups (who were comparable to Anglo-Western and East Asian groups). East Asian and Anglo-Western groups respectively perceived face and dignity values as most normative. Culture-level variation in perceived normative honor values, but not personal values, accounted for previously reported differences between Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean samples in several (but not all) measures of social cognitive tendencies. We conclude that a cultural logic of honor plays a role in Mediterranean societies but labeling these societies as “honor cultures” is oversimplistic.

History

Publication status

  • Accepted

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

British Journal of Social Psychology, The

ISSN

0144-6665

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Institution

University of Sussex

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes