کشاورزان، دامداران و ماهیگیران: بوم شناسی انتقام

Culture of honor (COH) theory [Nisbett, R. E., & Cohen, D. (1996). Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the south. Boulder, CO: Westview Press] predicts that the importance of upholding one's reputation is cross-culturally variable: Revenge should be more prevalent in herding societies than in farming societies, and should be entirely absent in foraging societies. This study was designed to replicate the effects that they found among herding and farming societies and to either support or refute the claim regarding foraging societies. Using a 32-item questionnaire measuring the constructs of Reciprocity and Revenge, this study cross-culturally validates Nisbett and Cohen's COH theory and extends it to fishers, a special kind of forager. Researchers sampled two herding communities (Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica), two farming communities (Mexico City, Mexico, and San Jose, Costa Rica), and two fishing communities (La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, and Puntarenas, Costa Rica.) The differences between the herding and farming samples replicated previous findings in that herders were higher on the Revenge scale than farmers. The fisher samples approximate the herder samples on the Revenge scale more than the farmer samples, but were significantly different from each other. Discrepancies between the fisher samples called for the investigation of alternative theories.

Whereas the commission of violent acts may serve a variety of functions, often perpetrators' motives are vengeful and/or based on the desire to defend their reputation. According to culture of honor (COH) theory (Nisbett & Cohen, 1996), the relative importance of upholding one's reputation is cross-culturally variable, dependent on the degree of COH in any given society. Nisbett and Cohen (1996) have proposed that violence related to honor and revenge is more prevalent in herding societies than in farming societies. They also claim that hunter–gatherers will not show the characteristics of the COH ideology, but do not offer empirical support for this claim. COH (Nisbett & Cohen, 1996) ideology has not yet been studied in hunter–gatherer societies. The purpose of this research is to test their theory of COH in herding versus farming societies with cross-cultural data and to include an additional form of subsistence economy to the analysis. This paper will also test Nisbett and Cohen's claim that there is an absence of the COH in hunter–gatherer societies by studying a special type of forager, the fisher.