Authors:

Tanner Rozendal

Date Created:

Not specified

Course Title:

Professor:

Not specified

About Paper:

institutionalized systems Previous anthropological research separated honor and non-honor cultures according to their unique social norms. While honor-based cultures not only accept but demand revenge, non-honor cultures rely on institutionalized systems to maintain order, thereby rejecting acts of revenge as primitive behavior. However, this binary interpretation, typical of ethnocentric Western cultures, leaves a society prone to violence and civil defiance. In actuality, each system subtly influences the other, creating an important cultural continuum often overlooked by legislators. To investigate this phenomenon, I employed a cultural perspective to analyze revenge in Thomas Kyd's 1587 play The Spanish Tragedy. Using the Elizabethan era as a model, Kyd separates the social norms of honor and non-honor cultures, suggesting both institutionalized systems and personal revenge, in isolation, fail to preserve tranquility. Therefore, respecting cultural diversity and recognizing this cultural continuum is advised to prevent conflict, maintain civil compliance, and encourage social cohesion in Western society. Building upon these findings, future research should pinpoint legislation that recognizes the values of both honor-based and institutionalized systems to define justice.

Source:

University of Oregon / 2023

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Tanner Rozendal