Moral Violation and Honour 2

More specifically, in Hindu and Persian cultures, the particular term ‘‘izzat’’
(meaning honor, reputation, dignity, and respect, etc.) guides social relationships
and interaction between individuals (Encarta, 2009). Izzat is a multidimensional
construct that can be experienced in different types of relationships at various
contextual levels: society and culture (macro-level), intergroup boundary and
court proceeding (exo-level), community and family (meso-level), and intrapersonal
and interpersonal relationships (micro-level). It embodies moral principle of
honoring one’s existence and relationship with others via behaviors or actions
such as harmonizing personal goal/s especially with one’s family and extended
family.
Specifically, Roy (1999) notes that ‘‘a family’s izzat must be preserved at all
costs and increased whenever possible. And if the honour of the family’s women is
lost, so also is the family’s entire public position’’ (p. 427). Unlike male honor
(dynamic), female honor is often viewed as a static attribute and ‘‘once it is lost is
lost forever’’ (Payton, 2011, p. 69). Miss Banaz Mahmod became a victim of the
loss of this sense of static honor. The story also reflects the dark side of ‘‘face honor
and face restoration’’ strategy.
The concept of izzat corresponds with the term ‘‘communal face concern’’
mentioned in the conflict Face Negotiation Theory (FNT; Ting-Toomey, 1988, 2005;
Ting-Toomey & Kurogi, 1998). At this level, people in a conflict situation are
concerned about saving-face and face restoration with the extended family and
the larger ingroup community. FNT theoretically assumes among other things
that (1) ‘‘people in all cultures try to maintain and negotiate face in all
communication situations,’’ (2) ‘‘the concept of face is especially problematic in
emotionally vulnerable situations (such as embarrassment, request or conflict
situations) when the situated identities of the communicators are called into
question,’’ and (3) ‘‘the cultural variability dimensions, in conjunction with
individual (e.g., self-construal), relational (e.g., intimacy, status, ingroup/outgroup),
and situational (e.g., topical salience) factors influence the use of particular facework
behaviors in particular cultural scenes’’ (Ting-Toomey, 2005, p. 73). Different face
needs and face wants, namely: autonomy, inclusion/fellowship, status, reliability,
competence, and moral face also directly or indirectly influence individual’s facework
strategies.
Individuals who have greater face needs for communal inclusion, status, and moral
face are likely to seek social approval, reputation, and respect and honor from others
as compared to those who have personal autonomy face needs. Honor killings are the
extreme manifestations of these communal face desires, and facework strategies
are often needed to recoup damaged family shame and community honor. Given
the general and contextual benefits of multilevel theorizing (see Oetzel, Dhar, &
Kirschbaum, 2007), the SEP is discussed first and then applied to the case of killing
Miss Banaz Mahmod in the name of honor in the UK.


Dorjee, T., Baig, N., & Ting-Toomey, S. (2013). A social ecological perspective on understanding “honor killing”: An intercultural moral dilemma. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 42(1), 1-21.