Hello,
This is my first post in The Man Cave community. I’ve recently begun writing about topics that I believe are important to men. This community seems like an appropriate place for these discussions. I hope you enjoy my posts.
I am expanding on a topic the I wrote about in the Emotions and Feelings community. The title of my first post is Honor – Is it an emotion? In that post I talked about the intrinsic emotional quality of honor. I now want to talk about aspects of honor that don’t have to do with the emotional side.
Does honor still matter in a capitalistic society? Honor is a commonly used word even though its importance has lessened over time. It's mentioned in marriage vows. People promise to “Honor and Obey” their partners. It's valued in the military, as it has been for thousands of years. The core values of the United States Marines are Honor, Courage and Commitment. These modern warriors fight and die for the honor of their nation.
Most people don't know anything about honor. Modern families don’t talk to their children about it, and it's not taught in public schools. Therefore, you must dissect how honor is used in language to understand it.
Let’s look at some common uses.
Addressing a Judge in a court as “Your Honor.”
“He is honorable.”
“I was dishonored.”
“I will honor and obey you.”
“That’s an honorable thing to do.”
“I will honor our agreement.”
“I feel honored.”
Based on how honor is used, we see it’s something you possess, it’s something given and taken away, it's an action, and a feeling.
The concept of honor comes from the agrarian past. It was cherished by land owners and the warrior class. It gave conquerors legitimacy. Rulers who governed with fear ran the risk of their subjects rebelling. Rulers that were seen as honorable lasted a little bit longer.
Existing agrarian society’s value honor more than capitalist ones. In the United States the only time honor is discussed in public is when there’s a horrific story about an honor killing. This is when a young woman is murdered by a member of her family over something like adultery. In some societies when a woman’s family considers her action’s dishonorable, they are killed by a brother or father to redeem the family’s honor.
I grew up under capitalism, so I struggle to understand violence like this. It wasn’t until I imagined myself living in an agrarian society that things started to make sense.
Farming societies have different values than capitalist ones. People from cities don’t understand these values because they don’t work the land. Factories and supply chains have disconnected people from the earth. Consumers don’t produce the products they use. A consumer who buys an iPhone isn’t the one who mines the precious metals used by it. These same people don’t grow the vegetables they eat or raise the animals they consume. This fact radically changes a person's relationship to the world.
The land places considerable demands on agrarian societies. You can get a small glimpse of what this is like by just tending a garden. Even if you do everything right in a garden, mother nature can destroy all your hard work with a drought or infestation. These same forces will destroy an agrarian society.
What role does honor play in this? Honor is a measure of value that a person, family, or institution has to a group. Honor in this form is utilitarian and external. In simple terms, someone has honor if the group thinks they're valuable. The group bestows honor on the subject because its invested in their future.
Agrarian societies rely on social bonds. The unforgiving nature of the earth means that no one can survive on their own. Isolation is a death sentence.
Let’s look at this from a pragmatic lens. A child born in a village is bonded to their community through their parents. The nature of children means they take more from the group than they give back. This is acceptable because the group is invested in the child's potential as an adult.
After the child grows up, what keeps them bound to their village? How can they trust the village to take care of them without the connection provided by the parent?
The answer is honor.
The adult will earn honor from the group if they live up to their potential. Honor creates a sacred bond that benefits both the group and the individual.
The village protects it's honored members because it has an investment in their continued success. The survival of these members means the survival of the community.
Is it any wonder then, why someone from an agrarian society might act violently if their honor is threatened? What's at stake for them is a priceless social contract.
This doesn’t justify the violence; but it can be better understood when viewed from this lens.
Honor is still important to capitalist societies.
Here’s a list of qualities associated with honor:
- Trust
- Value
- Respect
- Courage
- Commitment
- Generosity
- Sacrifice
- Ethics
- Love
- Loyalty
- Truth
- Fidelity
- Faith
These values allow capitalism to work, and there are catastrophic consequences when they're absent. Financial systems rely on the faith of the people to survive.
Financial businesses rely on long term relationships with their clients, so they use words like Fidelity and Trust in their names.
Despite honor’s importance, modern societies rely on legal systems. Contracts replaced the agreements that used to depend on an individual’s honor. Algorithms and encryption are accelerating this trend. Business transactions, that in a different era, relied on seeing someone face to face, can happen with an internet connection and a mouse click. The latest technology behind this shift is the Blockchain. Blockchain technology gave birth to the idea of a “trustless” society.
What role does honor play in your life? Do you think it still matters? Please add to the discussion in the comments section.