ABSTRACT
Family honor is one of two main forms of honor. Classic honor is a social status based on a willingness to use force to resist being dominated by another; family honor is a social status based on a willingness to use force to punish conduct that undermines the family’s moral reputation. Loss of family honor occurs primarily, though not exclusively, through breaches of female chastity. Family honor violence is similar to several other forms of violence, especially domestic violence between intimate partners. But unlike domestic violence, family honor violence is typically preplanned, collective punishment inflicted on a female relative, that is described and evaluated in terms of the morality of honor, and that is condoned, even praised, by the community. Since honor violence can extend to killing, the central theoretical question is: Under what conditions will families execute one of their own?
