Paper: A History of Violence: The Culture of Honor and Homicide in the US South

By Pauline Grosjean, 14 October 2012

The research question of the paper resides in how the Scots-Irish culture of honour1 lead to higher rates
of homicide? The paper examines the quality of formal institutions (in Southern part of the US) and
relationship with the homicide rates and the culture of honour. Another question resides in
understanding how culture and institutions interact and develop in time?

Author investigates if the Scots-Irish cultural traits persisted only in the regions where formal
institutions were weak (ex. Weak rule of law, lack of penalization of the violence by the state, etc.).

The paper analysed the empirical relationship between historical settlements of Scots-Irish in the US
(using the 1790 Census) and the levels of contemporary violence (main data used during the period
2000-2007).

In testing the culture of honour, the author looked at homicide committed by white offenders and
particularly the main offence investigated was “Murder and non-negligent manslaughter”, besides that
the author included aggravated assaults and other types of violent crime or offenses that could be
connected to the culture of honour pattern. The main variable of interest used is the proportion of
Scots-Irish settlers in the county population. The author looks at the relationship between homicide
rates and proportion of Scots-Irish settlers in 1790. She then looks at historical controls (as number of
slaves and density of the population) and contemporary socio-economic and demographic controls
(urbanization, ethnic fragmentation, income). The author also uses regional dummies, which are
Northern states, Border South and Deep South, they are used to see if the same pattern and relationship
between homicide and culture of honour exists in other regions.

In assessing the quality of formal institutions, author used (I) data on fiscal capacity of the state, as a
prerequisite of a strong state and availability of financial resources for the law enforcement and (II)
number of newspapers per capita, being associated with political accountability and participations of the
society.

The author found that the level of crimes and interpersonal violence was higher in the Southern part of
the US due to the weakness or lawlessness of the state institutions. The culture of honour was
persistent in the regions where formal institutions were weak and there was no constant penalization of
the wrongdoing. The paper founds that Scots-Irish are significantly associated with homicide rates in the
Deep South, particularly by white offenders.

In terms of the cultural transmission mechanism, the author found that the vertical transmission from
parents to children had a significant role, but only when it was cost effective, especially in the regions
with weak formal institutions.

1 Culture of honour is a private justice system which aims to protect the reputation of the individual.
The author emphasized that with the convergence between North and South, the culture of honour will
fade away, as the younger generation is not as susceptible as the older one.

The culture of honour is an adaptive response to the environment factors as weak formal institutions
and lawlessness. Where the state does not have the monopoly on the legitimate use of violence and
can’t enforce a certain behaviour. Thus, formal institutions that provide alternative sources of dispute
resolution and ensure security of individuals and their property rights can decrease the level of
interpersonal violence. It is important for the state to incentivize individuals to behave in lawful way due
to because of the threat of imprisonment or legal constraints.