Herding, Armed Conflict, and a Culture of Honor: Global Evidence

Working Paper • Vol/Iss. 29250 • National Bureau of Economic Research • • Published In • Pages: 1-103 •
By Cao, Yiming, Enke, Benjamin, Falk, Armin, Giuliano, Paola, Nunn, Nathan

Abstract

The “culture of honor” hypothesis holds that subsistence strategies relying more heavily on pastoralism tend to encourage the development of moral frameworks centered on honor and revenge. This study uses ethnographic data from the Ethnographic Atlas and other sources to investigate morality among the descendants of pastoralists, who may have been raised in similar cultural settings but have not necessarily experienced the material realities of pastoralism firsthand. It finds that descendants of pastoralists continue to exhibit a high emphasis on retaliation and revenge in civil and non-civil conflicts, and in their historical folklore.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)Other Researchers'Data for ancestral dependence on herding, and societal complexity
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data ProjectOther Researchers'Data for number of conflict events
Global Preference SurveyOther Researchers'Individual survey responses about disposition towards revenge
Uppsala Conflict Data ProgramOther Researchers'Data for number of conflict events

Hypotheses (1)

HypothesisSupported
Societies descended from herding communities tend to rely heavily on retaliation- and revenge-based conflict resolution strategies.Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: seb.wanggaouette