In the universe, creativity is valued and desired, yet the expression of creative ideas may be hard out of fear of discrediting one’s social image. Honor refers to the value a person has in his or her eyes, as well as the extent to which society values the person. Miron-Spektor (2011), the socially constructed system varies among cultures, although there are shared elements of honor cultures between cultures. Understanding the effect of face concern and loss of creativity in different cultures is valuable given rise in cross-cultural interactions.
In many of today’s Western cultures, the concept of honor exists about a person’s integrity, pride, and self-worth. Social relationships are arranged in hierarchies and face can be conferred upon the individual by social others that are equal or higher in the social hierarchy. Honor cultures and face culture are similar to Turkish in the sense that others' respect confers the worth of a person and shame is an important emotion that regulates one’s behavior to prevent social disapproval (Abide, Nd).
Honor is often deemed as a central theme of self in the context of individuals socialized with honor, and it invokes unique cognitive and emotional traits and behavioral accords. On the other hand, the face is considered as an aspect of the global and self-concept in a case of people socialized in dignity cultures.
Moreover, honor is attained by the members of honor culture by adhering to honor codes that are culturally construed, and thus, these honor codes define the characteristics of an ideal honorable person (Miron-Spektor, 2011). In this regard, individuals within an honor culture do not have the freedom to re-interpret their failure to abide by the honor code when their behavior is contrary to the expected pattern.
People are expected to abide by the honor codes whatsoever to avoid losing one’s honor in the society; They do so by employing framework tactics including indirect communication, presenting themselves in a positive light and threatening others’ face. The other thing is that honor codes are inflexible and failures to abide by them, especially the core elements of it, can result in the possible loss of one’s face and reputation and also a deep sense of shame.
The tendency to abide by the social expectations has long been seen as contradictory to creativity, and, therefore, the generation of creative ideas asks for a challenge in the existing paradigms and standards among individuals. Individuals also are required to think in a different and unique manner.
Dignity culture has some advantages as it allows people to be more free and individualistic and it prevents corruptions as well. In dignity culture, a person stands by his principles and is less swayed by what other peoples’ gossip. On the other hand, face culture is predominant in East Asia and is similar to honor culture in that it is largely determined by one’s reputation which depends on the judgment of other people (Abide, Nd). The face is a way of keeping the peace by helping each other to maintain a sense of self-worth.
Turkish culture is an honor culture, and the Turkish honor focuses on gender differences in the honor code, honor-related violence, and family chastity. The culture is also made up of other components such as having social high status and honesty. The culture is inflexible, and all people in the society are expected to abide by the culture code without deviations to avoid shame and loss of reputation.
The other important feature is that in both dignity culture and honor culture, behavior and character are essential aspects of having the honor. Failure to demonstrate the accepted code in a given culture is jeopardy to the culture and it can result to shame (Miron-Spektor, 2011). Therefore, members of a particular culture are expected to abide by the expected patterns of the culture.
References
Abide.( Nd). Push Back Face Loss and Creativity in Face, Dignity and Honor Cultures"
Miron-Spektor, E. (2011). Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management Technion- Israel Institute of Technology Haifa 32000, Israel; SUSANNAH B. F. PALETZ, University of Maryland and CHUN-CHI LIN, National Taiwan University
