ABSTRACT
Family honor violence requires a traditional honor community. Dishonor lowers a family’s status in such a community, evident in the social control to which the family is subject. The community punishes a family that does not punish dishonor and praises a family that does so. Community punishment ranges in severity from gossip to violence. Blackian theory predicts that community punishment will be more severe when the deviant party is socially inferior and distant. Since the community is patriarchal, organized, and gerontocratic, it tends to respond harshly to non-punishing families. Although the dishonored family is relatively close to other families, the closeness of the community families to each other, coupled with the higher status of the community, typically results in considerable punitive opposition to the family. The community is important, too, because it shapes honor culture, such as the emphasis placed on moral reputation, traditionalism, and autonomy.
