Tournaments of Power : Honor and Revenge in the Contemporary World

Europe has recently experienced a resurgence of honour as a topical theme in various realms of social life - court hearings, gang fights, and in violent reactions to insult. However, thirty years ago "modernization theory" contended that notions of honour would become obsolete in modern democracies. In this fascinating volume, the contributors question the role that honour plays in contemporary society by use of first-hand ethnographic accounts from around the world.