The Five Types of Honor/Shame Cultures
The following is taken as a broad outline of the different historic types of honor and shame societies, from honorshame.com (a website which helped inspire this website). This is a general/oversimplified guide and we recognize that many societies have now become complicated fusions of different honor/shame ethos, complicating the matter greatly -- especially in a globalized society. This is therefore deliberately stated as an overly simplistic overview, but still needful anyway:
- Western Individualism, "low self-esteem": In stark contrast with the majority of recorded history, modern "western" societies are highly individualistic and atomized. What before was known as "shame" is now, in modern times, experienced as internalized "guilt" -- a private experience now referred to as "low self-esteem", a concept which would have been foreign to most societies throughout history.
- Latin/Latino, "Macho": Sometimes referred to as "machismo", honor in these (mostly) South American societies is based upon projecting a very strong and tough/rough exterior. Physical strength and "bravado" is considered honorable (and protective of the community), and so appearing "weak" is considered shameful, and this shame is experienced publicly.
- Arabic/Islamic, Symbolic: Public honor in Arabic and Islamic societies is based on revering religious and cultural holy texts, relics, symbols, and even languages. This is why "honor killings" for insulting others' honor in association with these sacred texts/relics happens sometimes.
- African, Ancestor Worship: Being considered honorable in African societies is associated with revering deceased ancestors, and is required for honorable community association. It is important to honor the "living dead".
- Asian, "Saving face": In Asian cultures (contrary to the west), "face" is associated with who you are, and "saving face" (being concerned with how you appear to the community) is very important. If you didn't care about what others thought of you, that would be considered immoral. Unlike westerners who say things like "I don't care, they don't know me", this attitude is immoral to asian honor/shame standards.
And as it turns out, the social and cultural context of the Bible is mostly associated with the Asian ethos of "saving face" honor/shame. The great preoccupation of ancient peoples was with being seen as honorable before others, and if they did not appear honorable before others, this "loss of face" was extremely difficult to bear, and contrary to modern times, people were simply not capable of saying "I don't care what you think about me".
This is the context in which crucifixion was considered the ultimate and most severe "loss of face". It was associated with being cursed of the Divine and with being reduced to non-entity (you are no longer a "person" of any value at all). Understanding these different types of shame is crucial to understanding the deeper and more nuanced message of the Bible.