Honour and Shame: Problems in the Comparative Analysis of Moral Systems

Author(s): Michael Herzfeld

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Jun., 1980), pp. 339-351
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2801675 .
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 HONOUR AND SHAME:
PROBLEMS IN THE COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS OF MORAL SYSTEMS

MICHAEL HERZFELD
VassarCollege

Mediterranean value-systemshavebeenpresented of'honour'and'shame'.

asclassifications
Apartfromtheissueof whether'the Mediterranean' or usefully
necessarily constitutes
a
discreteculturalzone,'honour'and 'shame' are inefficient glosseson a wide varietyof
indigenousterminological systems.Freshethnographic evidencefromtwo ruralGreek
communities illustrates
twonecessary procedures: (a) to examineeachterminologicalsystem
as an independent wholein itslocalsetting;(b) to elucidatetherelationships
betweensuch
systems withineachlinguistic areabeforeproceeding to widercross-cultural
comparisons.
The varioustaxonomicsystems examineddo nevertheless exhibita commonconcern, not
simplywithabsolutemoraloreconomiccriteria forsocialevaluation,butwiththeabilityto
liveup to alreadyexistingexpectations.
Thisgeneralcharacteristic,however,is byno means
exclusively Mediterranean.

Introduction:methodological
difficulties
Since the beginningof systematicanthropologicalresearchin the Mediterra-
nean lands,the terms'honour' and 'shame' have been used to representan
enormous varietyof local social, sexual,economic and otherstandards.The
significanceof these values in each culture should not be minimised.It is,
however,reducedand obscuredbytheapriorism, andethnocentrism
circularity
inherentin theuse of suchinefficientEnglish-languageglossesforthepurposes
of cross-cultural
analysis.
To date,littleeffort
has beendirectedtowardsthecomparison
of usages
withineach linguistictradition,
or towardsa criticalappraisaloftheassumption
thatindigenoustermsmean much the same thingwherevertheyoccur. Yet
withouta seriesof suchinternalperspectives, the cross-cultural
comparisonof
conceptsto which our only effective accessis throughlocal usage makeslittle
sense.It wouldtherefore
be usefulto attempt
a comparative
analysisoflocal
usage within one language area,and thisI do forthe Greek-speakingworld,
afterfirstsettingout some theoreticalissuesin more detail.
The earliestsystematiccollectionofessays(Peristiany I965) on Mediterra-
nean value-systems avoided facilecorrelationsthroughitsscrupulousattention
to thedetailsof particularistic
ethnographicdescription.The questionof cross-
culturalcomparisonwas addressed,not begged. Mediterraneananthropology
has nevertheless been faultedforits'failure'to adopt a.comparativistposition
(Davis I977: 5). Such a criticismraises the logical difficultywhich the
Man(N.S.)15, 339-5 I-
340 MICHAEL HERZFELD

ethnographicaccountslargelyescaped: it presupposesthatthereexistswithin
the circum-Mediterranean regionsomethingwhich is both worthyof cross-
culturalexaminationand yetsomehow 'less' characteristic of otherareas.1
While thiscriticismdoes not necessarilyrequirethe adoption of a crudely
undifferentiated culture-areaconcept,the overall impressionof homogeneity
is attributedto 'contact... for millennia' (Davis I977: I2-I3). That a
primarilygeographicalentityhasto be definedby historicalcriteria,however,
only compoundsthe difficulty of fittingso nebulousa conceptas 'honour' to
it. Another approach (J. Schneider I97I: 2) has the Mediterraneanas 'all
regionssurroundingthe[Mediterranean]sea in whichgreatemphasisis placed
on the chastityand virginityof women'. Here, however,sincethe defenceof
femalechastityis equated with 'honour', any attemptto correlate'honour'
with a geographicaldistributionmustnecessarilybe circular.Once again,the
definitionrelieson an implicitquantification of theunquantifiable-thistime,
the'emphasis'on chastity.2
Moreover, whether'honour' is definedas an index of femalechastityor of
economicstratification
(Davis I977: 89-IOI; I978: 472), suchconcentration
on a singlewell-definedvariablesuggeststhattheterm'honour' may itselfbe
redundant.Its use has alreadyintroducedan elementof nominalism.This is
especiallyapparentin Davis's (I977: 99) complaintthatBailey (I97I), who
prefersthe unambiguouslyetic 'reputation',does not then explain why
'honour' might be 'inappropriate'.If 'most of the behaviour describedby
Bailey as "competingto remainequal" (197I: I9) is in facthonour-oriented
behaviour',thatfactoriginatesin Davis's definitionof 'honour' ratherthanin
theindigenouscategories.
Many of the local termsfor moral values correspondclosely to English-
language cognates; obvious examples include onore,rispettoand egoismos.
Similaritiesof this sort,which are not necessarilymatchedin the semantic
domain, make it particularlyhard to abandon the habit of assumingvirtual
equivalence.3In fact,thesemanticdisparitybetweenEnglishandMediterranean
cognatesis oftenobvious fromthe carefuldescriptionsof ethnographers. A
singleinstancewill sufficeto make the point here.Some of Brogger's(I968:
232, n. 2) south Italian informants'maintained that honour (onore) only
concerned the sexual conduct of the female membersof the household as
reflectedon its male members,and theywould use the termrespect(rispetto)
in othercontexts'.This statementonly makessensewhen we realisethatthe
'translations'of the Italiantermsare unavoidablyinexact.South Italianonore
clearlyoperatesin a mannermarkedlydifferent fromthe VictorianEnglish
senseof 'honour' as a man'sideal comportmenttowardsunrelatedwomen.4
Peristiany(I965), Bailey (I97I) and theircollaboratorssimilarlyavoided
linguisticreductionismby reportingeach terminologicalusage in its own
ethnographiccontext.5They have in effectprovided moral taxonomies-
systems,thatis, forthe rankingof one's fellow-citizens accordingto a set of
ethicalcriteria.Treatingthesetaxonomiescollectivelyas '(stratification'
reduces
the non-materialaspectsof social classification
to reflectionsof an economic
ordering.
Nor must alternativeinterpretations necessarilybe expressedin termsof
 MICHAEL HERZFELD 34I

'belief'. Davis (i 969: 69) decriestheearlyemphasison moralcriteriaas merely

'a techniquewhich treatsbeliefsas sui generisphenomena'.But all theauthors
just cited correlate local terminologieswith several variables (including
wealth),withoutawardinganysinglevariablean unwarrantedlogicalpriority.
Nor were thosewritersprimarilyconcernedwith 'belief' in thestrictsenseof
the word. Moral taxonomies have to do with the public evaluation of
behaviour, with degrees of conformityto a social code, ratherthan with
hypotheticalinnerstates.
Thus a Greek egoistisis not reallydemonstrating the ruggedindividualism
which has forso long been upheld (e.g.,d'IstriaI 867) as thecornerstoneof his
'nationalcharacter'.On the contrary,by his veryinsistenceon having respect
paid to him, he is exhibiting conformityto a socially sanctionedideal.6
Egoismosis neithera formof beliefnor a conditionof social isolation,but an
evaluativedescriptionof public behaviour.As such,it may have much lessto
do with a person'sactualwealththanwith theextentto which he is treatedas
a privilegedindividual.Since the other indigenoustermswhich have been
translatedas 'honour' and 'shame' are similarlycategoriesofpublic evaluation,
it may be no lessinappropriateto referto themas indicesof absoluteeconomic
standing.

Egalitarianism: literalornormative?
The narrow definitionof 'honour' as a primarilyeconomic phenomenon
conflictswith theclaim,frequently voiced,thatMediterraneansocietiesare in
some senseegalitarian(Davis I977: 8 I-9). But theclaim of egalitarianism has
largelyoriginatedin the mouthsof indigenousinformants. Thus, the more it
seemsto departfromliteraleconomicfacts,themore itsconceptual significance
demandsexplanation(cf also Pitt-RiversI978: 32I-2). Greek villagers,for
example, are usually reluctantto admit to internalstatusdifferentiation in
speakingwith outsiders,sincesuchan admissionwould implythepresenceof
lesserindividualsin theircommunity.Their concernis with reputationwrit
large, egoismosin the defenceof the whole village ratherthanjust of the
household.7In thissense,what has been called 'honour' is actuallyinimicalto
the expressionof differentiation by wealth.The factthatsuch differentiation
is ideallydenieddoes not mean,of course,thatit cannotexist,or thatit cannot
be covertlyrecognised.The Greekproverb,'the fingersare not all [thesame]',
describesjust thistensionbetweenany kind of internaldifferentiation and the
need to displayunitybeforeoutsiders.8
Economic differentiation undoubtedlyexists,though in varyingdegrees,
throughoutthe Mediterranean.If'honour' is treatedas a normativeformof
internalranking,however,it seemsinconsistent to stressitsimportancewhile
atthesametimeignoringthatother,outward-directed normof ' egalitarianism'.
In orderto reconcile these we
concepts, clearly cannot go on treatingthemas
literallyand absolutely economic in focus.
Thus, for example, the Alcale-nosdo indeed exhibitfargreatereconomic
differentiation than the Sarakatsani(Davis I977: 89). Yet both societies
342 MICHAEL HERZFELD

apparentlypossess concepts of 'honour', although in Alcala the senoritos

interpretit very differently fromthe peasantry:upper-classwomen do not
have to guard theirchastitywith the severityencounteredamong labourers.
Davis argues fromthisthat,in effect,since wealth is statusand also releases
women fromtheabsoluterequirementsof chastity, theprimarydeterminants
of 'honour' mustbe economic. Yet thiswould apply only if the sole basis of
statuswere economic,and thereis clearlymoreto beinga sefnorito thanmoney.
The values glossedas 'honour' rarelyappear in the ethnographicliterature
as a simple matterof economic primacy.Brogger (I968: 232) reportsthat
onore'isthe privilegeof all men'; one triesto retrieveitsloss throughthreats
or directaction. Accordingto the Schneiders(I976: I00-2), onoremay even
compensatea poor Sicilianforhisotherwisehumiliatingpositionof economic
dependency.Conversely,excessivewealthin 'unworthy'handsmay provoke
sociallynegativeevaluationsof thosewho own it. Davis (I969: 8o) himself
shows thatmajor statusdifferences were so bitterlybegrudgedin Pisticcithat
they might even lead to homicide on occasion. Sarakatsanmales,otherwise
eager to boastin accordancewiththedemandsof egoismos, generallypreferred
to minimisethe extentof theirwealth in order to avoid envy and the tax-
collector(CampbellI964: 229, 238, 284).
Display of self-regardis thus not a reliableindicationof wealth. A man's
reputation does neverthelessdepend upon his ability to live up to the
expectationswhich he createsabout himself.Davis (I969: 70-I) has argued
thattheseexpectations,which constitute'honour', are a functionof economic
standing.But what of the disapprovalmetedout to the errantrich,or of the
variouswaysin which'honour' hasbeenfoundin conditionsofgreatpoverty?
was
In theCretanvillage of 'Glendi' (see below), thedefinitivecase offilotimo
held to be that of the desperatelypoor woman who provided unexpected
guestswithbread,a fewolivesand some water-a supremelyhumbleoffering,
but acknowledged by all to be the best she could manage. In Vergadi
(Peloponnese),again,a family'sfilotimo is not diminishedifitsfemalemembers
work in thefields'when public opinionrecognizesthenecessityforit' (Bialor
I973: 4I2). Each familytriesto act according to a public evaluation of its
currentmeans,and it is successin thisrelative
sensethatfilotimoconveys.The so-
called egalitarianismof Mediterraneansocieties(and othersas well)9 is thusa
nominal equality of access to moral resources-the privilege,in Brtogger's
southItalianutopia,of all men.'0

Pejko,Glendi
amplification:
Ethnographic
We now turnto fielddatafromPefko(Rhodes)and Glendi (WesternCrete)
forfurtherethnographicillustrationfromwithintheGreek-speaking world."1
The most strikingdifferencebetween these two communitieslies in their
respectiveattitudesto the law. While the Pefkiotspride themselveson their
sobrietyand theirrespectforthelaw-they manageda totalof one suspected
and one confirmedcase of theftover an eight-yearperiod (I967-74)-the
Glendiotsengage in systematicsheep-stealing,illegallygamble forhigh stakes
 MICHAEL HERZFELD 343
in public, carryand use firearms,and indulge in a wide assortmentof petty
infractionswhich the local police usuallyconsiderit politicto overlook. It is
only to be expectedthatthesetwo communitieswill also differradicallyin
their use of morally evaluative terms; Pefkiot values harmonise,at least
superficially,with those of the civil and religious authorities,while the
Glendiot attitudeis perhapsbest summarisedin the assertionthat'we're free
Greecehere!'
In both communities,social'worth' is denotedby timi,thespecificreferents
of which may be provisionallylistedas social responsibility, femalechastity,
and commercialvalue. A proverb('timihas no timi/ and joy to him who has
it!') plays on its double meaningas somethingsupremely'valued' and as the
definitively'invaluable'. A 'love of timi',thefilotimoso familiarfrom the
ethnographicliterature(Campbell I964: 294-5; Dubisch I974), is thoughtin
both communitiesto be particularlywell expressed through hospitality.
Filotimomeans not so much the financialabilityto entertainlavishlyas the
clearlycommunicateddesireto do so as bestone can. Indeed,noblesseoblige:a
wealthier man's filotimomay actually be at greaterrisk than that of his
economicinferiors. Filotimois demonstrated throughtheadequaterecognition
of a social obligation.It is thusshown,forexample,by a foreignvisitorwho
latersendsa postcardto thankfora villager'shospitality. At everyturn,filotimo
is assessedin termsof a changeablecontextof expectations.
Filotimois revealed,above all, in sociallyappropriatebehaviour.In a settled
village community,where overt aggressionis oftenperceivedas disruptive,
the term is used in connexion with dignifiedself-restraint (cf also Dubisch
I974). Where self-restraint is seen as tantamountto cowardice, however,
filotimo is nottheappropriateterm.Justwhatconstitutes appropriatebehaviour
is,ofcourse,open to debatein each situationas it arises.'Filotimithika(I've done
all thatyou can reasonablyexpectof me),' remarkedtheson of a Pefkocoffee-
house proprietorwhen he made my orderof coffeebut chose not to bringit
over to my table. Other villagersdid not see his generalbehaviour in such
flattering terms,and criticisedhis habitualindolence.
This aspectoffulfilling expectationsis crucialto thedefinitionoffilotimo.In
both Pefko and Glendi, it is particularlyapparentin regard to the 'word'
(logos) or verbal assurancewhich a man gives of his eventual intentions,
especiallywheretheseconcerna woman'schastity(timi).Nowhere elseis one's
filotimoso clearlyofferedforjudgement,because it is here thatone has the
greatestcontrolover theexpectationswhich one createsabout oneself.While
ajiltedwoman is thought'adulterated'throughherbetrothal, and consequently
may nevergetanotherchangeto marry,herex-fianceis regardedas lackingin
filotimo.Usually the only strategyopen to him for dealing with such
opprobriumis to claim thatthe woman had herselfturnedout to be morally
flawed.
Sometimesexpectationsoriginatelessin a voluntary'word' thanin therole
of co-villager.When a water-shortage became acute in Pefko,villagerswere
askedto exerciserestraint in theiruse of irrigation-water.When two or three
individuals neverthelesscontinued to take more than their fair share,the
village mayortold the entirecommunity(over the public-addresssystem)to
344 MICHAEL HERZFELD
'show filotimo[verb]' by subordinatingselfishto collectiveinterests. Filotimo
was again enjoined upon all villagerswhen the State agriculturalauthorities
failedto deliversufficient sulphur-dust, urgentlyneededfortreatingthe vines
againsta recurrentpest.Those who persistedin takingall theycould get were
condemnedas 'anti-social'(grousouzis:see below). Filotimohereemergesas a
'brake' (freno)on aggressivelycompetitivebehaviour.But ifcompetitionand
the'word' are predominantlymale modesin ruralGreece,a woman may also
be regardedasfilotimi in so faras shelivesup to hersocialand moralobligations.
Conversely,dropi,whichis conventionallyglossedas 'shame',may be regarded
as a positivevirtuein menas well as in women underappropriatecircumstances.
As a senseof restraint, a 'brake', it can indeed be equivalenttofilotimo,rather
thanitsoppositeas thehonour-shamedichotomyimplies.
Egoismos,the self-regard which the Sarakatsani(Campbell I964: 28 i) and
the Glendiotsview as a manly virtue,is treatedby law-abidingPefkiotsas a
virtual antonymoffilotimo.As an aggressiveform of social disruptiveness,
egoismosmay differfromfilotimo'as the day from the night'. The Pefko
villagerwho drew thisanalogy,and who also describedbothfilotimo and dropi
as a 'brake', was an in-marrying husbandwitha strongsenseofhisdependence
upon thelocally-bornPefkiots'sufferance. His viewpointunderlinesa facetof
ruralGreekmoralitywhich seldomappearsin theethnographicaccounts(but
see du Boulay I974: 75-6; Dubisch I974), and which is doubtlessattenuated
in the more dramaticallycompetitivecommunities.
Given the great varietyof ecological conditions,economic patternsand
formsof social organisationto be found in rural Greece, some degree of
variationis only to be expectedin the moral code also. Egoismoshas obvious
virtueswhen,as among the Sarakatsani,each householdhas only to defendits
particularinterestsagainstall comers. When, however, thereare recurrent
practicalreasonsforcommunalresponsibility thepositivesense
and solidarity,
of egoismosbecomes more questionable.The distastefeltforthosewho take
more thantheirfairshareof wateror sulphurmay thenextendto otherswho
indulgein moreharmlessformsofself-aggrandisement. A Pefkiotschoolteacher
was criticisedas an egoistis, forexample,becausehis loftyaffectations violated
theegalitarianpretensions ofthecommunity.Only in theentirelyhypothetical
case of blood-vengeanceforclose kin mightsome Pefkiotsassimilateegoismos
withfilotimo.
In Glendi, few reservationsare entertainedabout the positive sense of
egoismos.The Glendiots,some of whom are still transhumantpastoralists,
sanctiondisplaysof aggressivemale behaviouras well as thebrazenfloutingof
officialauthority.
Justas a man may be kala kleftis,
'good at [animal-]rustling',
so, more generally,may he be kala egoistis.
The adverbialkala ('well') implies
performativeability,ratherthan simplyan innate capacity.Echoing urban
prejudices, a few self-consciousGlendiots decry the Cretans' notorious,
collective egoismos,but this conceit is evidently tailored to external
consumption.Most Glendiots,most of the time,proudlydescribeegoismosas
one of theirdefinitivetraits.They associateit, not only with the defenceof
householdand village,but also with the assertiveness thatgoes with being a
memberof one of the largeragnaticlineageswhich still,uncharacteristically
 MICHAEL HERZFELD 345
forGreece as a whole, play a large partin the conductof municipalelections
and offeuds.Like thefamilialnotionofself-interest (Loizos I975: 66), egoismos
is not egocentricin the sense suggestedby its English cognate. Indeed, its
effectiveness
actuallyincreaseswith the size of the solidaryuniton which the
actor can count: the expectations which he raises about himself are
correspondingly safefromchallenge.

Privatives
This public and relative aspect of moral evaluation is perhaps more
strikingly evidentin thenegationof timiandfilotimo.'2 A Pefkofieldwarden
claimedthathisabsentee-landowner brotherwas lackinginfilotimo becausethe
latterwould not pay him in cash for tendinghis vines. Actually,although
brothersdo engagein commercialrelationsin theextremelyfragmented social
nexus of Pefko,'lack offilotimo'is not somethingwhich a man who himself
possessedfilotimo would attributeto his immediatekin beforeoutsiders.It was
thusconsistentforthefieldwardento be regardedas a notoriousgrousouzis-
a co-villagerwho nevertheless lacked theordinarydecencymeantbyfilotimo.
Here lies the rub: atimia,the definitiveand total absence of filotimo,is
somethingwhich may only be attributedto outsiders-criminals,Turks,
politicalenemies,and in some contexts,non-kinwithinthe community,but
most certainlynever one's own brother! The warden, by thus inverting
normativeusage,was living up to his unenviablereputationas a grousouzis-
one who is 'without luck' (Turkishugursiz), hence a sociallypollutingagent
of misfortune, a morallydefectiveinsider.An insider(definedaccordingto
context)cannotbe atimos.13On theotherhand,bothatimiaandgrousouziaare,
in theirrespectivecontexts,antonymsoffilotimo.
One characteristicformofgrousouziais theallegedpossessionoftheevil eye.
This is a mark ofjealousy or overweeningcuriosity;since it is mostlyone's
fellow-villagerswho have thesustainedopportunityforprying,theevil eye is
rarelyifever attributedto outsiders.An enviousman negatesfortune,and this
affectsthosearoundhim (cf.also Campbell I964: 3 39-40). Evil eyeaccusations
thusattachto those whom one 'knows', people who are in some clear sense
fellow-insiders,but whose behavioursuggests'outsider-like'tendencies.'4The
fieldwarden,forexample, was a locally-bornPefkiot,but his positiongave
him a discomfitinglicence to interferein the affairsof his fellow-villagers,
while his inquisitivemien and (by local standards)excessivefriendliness to
visitingtouristsviolatedconventionalboundaries.
More generally,grousouzia is a moral taint within the community.A
Glendiot regardsstealinga co-villager'ssheep as grousouzia(or (o)goursouza);
yet he will condone, perhapsparticipatein, a raid on flocksfrom another
village. The East Cretan lowlander,by contrast,may use thislabel of distaste
forall formsof animal-stealing.Not only is he nowadaysonly the victimand
never the beneficiaryof such raids, but he views them as an internally
destructiveforce; 'the community'is here the whole island of Crete, rather
thanjust thespeaker'svillage.
346 MICHAEL HERZFELD

While thegrousouzisis deficient,he is at leastknown to be so. By contrast,

theatimos,as an outsider,is inherentlyunpredictable.The Turk is describedas
atimos,because he lies in wait 'like a wolf' to pounce on the unsuspecting
Greek.There are otherusesofthetermin which unfulfilled expectationsseem
to be the key component,ratherthan the absence of 'honour'. Hence, for
example,theatimodie or cardwhichletsone down in a game; the'atimoweed'
of tobacco, which is capable of doing one inestimableharm; the atimogarlic
crop,which rewardshard work with an uncertainyield; atimovetch,which
sometimesspoilsbeforeit can be harvested;and atimofrozenchicken,which
has an insipid tastebecause it has been force-fedwith hormones.The logic
which unitesthesehighlyvaried usagesis thatwhat comes fromoutsidethe
rangeof one's immediatesocial controlis by definitionunpredictable, perhaps
harmful;it thereforelacksthatcertaintyof reputewhich is essentialto timi.
Filotimo,the presenceof timi,thus has two distinctantonyms,and the
resultantdiscriminations can be expressedformally:
ATIMIA = unpredictabledangerof outsider
r1
FILOTIMO/TIMI
% t
GROUSOUZIA = predictable taint of insider
The 'honour-dishonour'glossdoes indeed'glossover' theseessentialproperties
of social demarcation.

orcustom?
Conscience
Filotimois oftenequatedwithsinidhisi, 'conscience'accordingto theformal
lexicon,in both Pefkoand Glendi.The groundsforthisare that'you feelfor3
(sinesthanese)those to whom your behaviour shows filotimo.More often,
however, the ldhl of sinidhisiis devocalised,giving a term (sinithisi)which
suggests'custom' ratherthan 'conscience'.15 Such a semanticshiftis fully
consistentwith ruralGreeks'habitualreluctancetojudge a person'sinnerstate
itselfbeinglargelyconcernedwiththeprotective
(du Boulay I 974: 84),filotimo
concealmentof everythinginternalisedin a person or society(cf. Lee I959
[I95 31).
In Glendi, sinithisiis cited as a reason for not reportingsheep-stealing
incidentsto the State authorities;for repayingthe generositywhich others
show one in the coffee-houses; and forvotingin municipalelectionsforone's
lineage or sub-lineagerepresentative according to segmentaryprinciplesof
choice. Theoretically,ballot-boxesare secret,so thatthislastuse of the term
would seem to referto consciencequa inner state. In fact,however, one's
personal voting habits are usually well-known in the home community,
althoughintentionaldeceit(tapa) is retrospectively invoked to explainfailure
at thepolls.
More generally,moreover, a man whose public actions violate village
or even sinithio(the usual word for'custom').
canons is said to lack sinithisi,
 MICHAEL HERZFELD 347

Sincefilotimois oftenexplicitlyequatedwith sinithisi, both termsclearlyrefer

to public evaluation. 'Having a weight (varos) on one's soul', the closest
analogueof'bad conscience'in bothPefkoand Glendi,is notdirectlyassociated
with sinithisiby informants.
In Glendi,sinithisiis rarelyfarfromegoismos:by showing hospitalityto a
guest one brings credit on one's entire household,while a vote for one's
lineage-mateis a similarlysanctionedindexofreliability.In Pefko,by contrast,
sinithisiis clearlyantitheticalto egoismos, since it demands a measureof co-
operationamong households.In contrastboth to thisparticipatoryideal and
to itsdeliberateviolation,grousouziasignifiesabstentionthroughsome innate
condition; thismay be incapacitatingsickness(as when a deaf and blind old
man is called a grousouzisin commiseratingtones),or it may be miserliness, or
the possessionof malignpropertiessuch as theevil eye. One is thoughtto cast
the evil eye 'without intent'(athelatou); it cannot be admittedthatinsiders
would intentionally harmtheirfellows.Yet theeffects ofgrousouziaare no less
disruptiveforall that.One Pefkiotwho was accreditedwith an outstandingly
dangerouseye was so stingythathe would noteven providehislabourerswith
clean food; his behaviourwas thusboth sociallyand physicallyunclean.The
eventualresultwas thathe could not findlabourersin Pefkoitselfany more,
and so had to recruitthem elsewhere,therebytransgressing the introverted
Pefkiotsocial code. He was thusan internaldeviant,ratherthan an external
threat;he was a villagerwithoutfilotimo or sinithisi.
This man was relativelywealthyby thepre-warPefkiotstandardsby which
he was judged. The higherone is raised,the harderone may fall; such is the
ambiguousrelationshipbetweenmaterialand spiritualworthencapsulatedin
the word timi.Once a grousouzis,always a grousouzis;or, as the villagerssay,
'it's betterto lose your eye (lit.: thatyour eye come out) than your [good]
name.
The evidence forthisdamningcondition,moreover,may be perceivedin
more than behaviour alone. 'Grousouzia from God', for example, is the
Pefkiots'label and explanationforchildlessness, a punishmentforsinsassumed
to have occurredin thepast.Pefkiotsalso say that'many childrenare wealth',
despitethe factthata large progenyreducesthe propertyavailable for each
child.In thePefkiotcontext,therefore, it makespoor logic to arguefora literal
interpretation of the proverb,althoughthe earning-powerof male children
hasseemeda persuasivefactorin othercontexts(cf.J.SchneiderI 97 I: i 8). The
proverb seems,rather,to state a moralequivalence, since both wealth and
childrenpotentiallyraiseone's timi.Conversely,a wealthymiserand poorly-
raisedprogenyboth immediatelyinvitethe chargeof grousouzia.Economic
factorsare thus relevantto timiin terms of the expectationswhich they
generate.It is only in a person's repetitive,predictableand normatively
acceptable behaviour that peers can discernfilotimoand sinithisi,and can
therebyattributehigh timito theindividualand his familyalike.

Conclusionsand implications
The evidence presented in this article demonstratesthat the precise
348 MICHAEL HERZFELD
interpretationof moral-value terms requires a clear perception of their
linguisticand social context in each community.If thereis indeed a 'false
coherence' (Davis I969: 69, following Gellner I962) in the study of
Mediterraneanvalues,it lies not in the indigenousterminologiesnor in the
conceptualschematawhich theserepresent but in theirsummaryconflationas
'honour' and 'shame'.
The Greek taxonomy of values outlined here expressesthe matchingof
performancewith expectations.Italian peasants,too, apparentlyemploy a
usage which departs significantlyfrom the chivalrous and psychological
implicationsof the Englishword 'honour': 'To maintainhis honour intacta
Pisticcesehas to conformto the expectationshis neighbourshave about his
domesticbehaviour' (Davis I969: 8o). The Pisticcesithus sharethe Greeks'
concern with relativeand changingexpectations.Reputationis clearly the
common theme.It is truethatPitt-Rivers's ideas on honour 'are founduseful
by people who have not worked in the so-calledMediterraneanculturearea'
(Davis I969: 69); the one non-Mediterraneanist (Wilson I969) cited in this
connexion, however, used Pitt-Rivers'sscrupulouslydetailed ethnographic
evidence to connectculturallylocalised'honours' with the theoreticallyless
ambiguousconceptof reputation.
The presentanalysishas thus become more general. At the same time,
however, freedfromthe presuppositionswhich the glossesof 'honour' and
'shame' demand,we can morefullyappreciatethesignificance ofintra-cultural
and intra-linguisticvariation.The readingsuggestedhere forfilotimo, as the
quality of conformityto socially positive expectations,lends itselfto a
comparisonof behaviouralnormswithina common terminologicaltradition.
To theconceptsoffilotimo, sinithisi
and egoismoscan be added thedemonstrative
eccentricityknown as khoui,which is treatedwith disdainby the Sarakatsani
(Campbell I964: 45) and by settledvillagerswho use the term (du Boulay
I974: 8o), but which Glendiotsview as a possiblyextremeformof egoismos
and thereforeas somethingto be highly valued. The various conceptsare
arrangedherein termsof theirlocallyperceivedequivalences:

GLENDI khoui= egoismos= filotimo= sinithisi

SARAKATSANI khoui$ egoismos
= (filotimo)(?)
PEFKO (khoui)# egoismos = sinithisi
#filotimo

The threecommunitiesrepresentpoints on a continuum.The relationship

between them is furtherstrengthenedby the fact that the Glendiots and
Sarakatsanisharea predominantlypastoralmode of subsistence, whereasthe
Sarakatsaniand thePefkiotsplace greateremphasison thecognatickindred(as
opposed to theagnaticlineage)in thedomain of kinshipmodes.
Thus, a Glendiot of powerfullineage need not fear the consequencesof
eccentricself-aggrandisement(khoui).In the Sarakatsansocial universe,with
its greaterfragmentation,such flamboyanceis more dangerousand therefore
discouraged. The Pefkiots adhere to an extreme avoidance of conflict,
preferring covertmaliceto open aggressionunderany circumstances.
 MICHAEL HERZFELD 349
Interestingly, this schema resonateswith J. Schneider's(I97I: II, 22)
proposed continuum between pastoralcommunitieswith large, politically
independentgroupsat one end,and fragmented, sedentaryagriculturalsocieties
at the other. The presentanalysis,however, has been kept within a single
language-tradition, througha strategyof matchinglocal patternsto a base
term(filotimo)denotingsociallyappropriatebehaviour.There does seemto be
a systematicconnexion betweenmoral,ecological and kinshipvariables,and
it is easierto demonstratethiswithinthe specificlimitsof a singlelanguage-
area in the firstinstance.More such localised analysesare needed,and there
seemsto be no good reasonto confinetheseto theMediterraneanlands.'6
Massive generalisationsof 'honour' and 'shame' have become counter-
productive;theircontinueduse elevateswhat began as a genuineconvenience
forthe readersof ethnographicessaysto thelevel of a theoreticalproposition.
When indigenousterminologiesare taken froma single language,as in the
data discussedabove, we may be reasonablysure thattheyare in some sense
comparable.When theyaretakenfromdifferent language-traditions,
however,
thatcomparabilityhas to be demonstratedbeforeit can be used as an analytic
base. The summationof our understandingin the formof 'translated'terms
offersno such assurance.It is ratherin ethnographicparticularismthat we
shouldseek,withoutany senseofparadox,thosetheoreticalinsightswhich the
reductionistgeneralisationof glossingcan neveryield.
NOTES

Thisarticleis a revisedversionofa paperreadattheI978 AnnualMeetingoftheAmerican

Anthropological Associationin Los Angeles.I am indebtedto thefollowingformuchuseful
criticism:PeterS. Allen,PerryBialor,DonaldBrenneis, Mari H. Clark,LoringM. Danforth,
MurielDimen-Schein, JillDubisch,StephenGudeman, JuanOssio,G. JamesPatterson,Jane
Schneider andLilo Stern.My gratitude toJohnCampbellformuchsympathetic adviceduring
fieldwork (seen. iI, below)is immeasurable.
I Clarke's(I968: 28-9) strictures in archaeology
on thecarelessuseofnotionsoftypicality
arealsoextremely germaneto socialanthropology.
2 For a morerecentand significantly modifiedstatement,however,seeJ.& P. Schneider
I976: 86-I02.
3 On category variation withina singlelanguage-tradition, seeespecially:
FarisI968; Stoddart
I974. Just(I978: 84) interprets thedifficultyexperienced by Mediterraneanists in seekinga
senseofcultural distance asoneofwhatArdener (I 97 I: xvii)hascalled'critical
lackoffit'.That
culturaldifferences maybe smaller, or disguisedlinguistically,doesnotnecessarily makethem
moretrivial.
4 Cf.Pitt-Rivers'(I977: I 3) insight
that'theearlyanthropologists mightwellhavetranslated
thewordmanaas honour'.
5 The sameapplies,in thespecific contextof Greekethnography, to: FriedlI962: 84-7;
BialorI973: I 57-9,485-9I; du BoulayI974.
6 Nor doesegoismos denotean innateselfishness; Greekmoralterminology, as will emerge
laterin thisaccount,is littleconcerned withinnerstates. Cf theuseofkhristianos ('Christian'),
whichmeans,nota 'believer',buta sociallyacceptablehumanbeing,one who observesthe
appropriate socialandritualnorms(cfKennaI976: 33).Italianusageisverysimilar(Boissevain
I966: i9; Davis I973: 93).
7 Dhiafores,'differences' (ofstatus,butalsoofopinion),arehiddenfromkseni(outsiders to
anyreference-group).
8 Thisversion oftheproverbwasrecorded in Pefko.Du Boulay(I 974: Io6-7) describes the
application of a similarproverbto theidealthatfemalechildren, thougheffectively inferior,
shouldideallybe lovedas muchas theirbrothers.
9 AmongGuyananIndianplantation workers, forexample,'a claimto superiorprestige
made by a personwho belongsin all respects to thegroupfrustrates theexpectations of his
fellows'(Jayawardena I963: 71).
350 MICHAEL HERZFELD

10 Thisdoesnotinvalidate Loizos's(I975: 85) observation thatin factvillagers competeto

becomeas unequalaspossible.Itdoesmean,however,thatanyvillager, no matter whathisreal
economicresources, musttrytoliveup totheexpectations whichhispeersalreadyhaveofhim.
11Pefko is a depopulated,prescriptively (i.e. normatively)endogamous,agricultural
community ofsome i6o inhabitants in thecoastallowlandsofwesternRhodes.Sincehouses
forma partof thebridalendowment, thereis a tendency to matrifocalclustering. Glendiis
situatedin the foothillsof Mt Ida, in westernCrete; it has a fluctuating populationof
approximately onethousand, including a nowdwindling proportionoftranshumant shepherds.
Villageandlarge-lineage endogamyispreferred, butnotmandatory, although therehavebeen
manyexceptionsin thelastdecade.At marriage, a houseis providedby thegroom'sfather.
Fieldworkwas conductedin PefkobetweenDecemberI973 andJulyI974, and in Glendi
betweenDecemberI974 and May I975, in JulyI976, and betweenAugustI977 and May
I978. 'Pefko'and'Glendi'arepseudonyms.
12 Cf Pitt-Rivers's
(I977: I9) comment on lossinverguenza.
13 Danforth (personalcommunication) haspointedout,however,thata manmaydescribe
a friend as tonatimo.
affectionately
14 Dhikimas('insiders' of'our' reference-group) aredistinguishedfromksenibybeingthose
whom-in an entirely relativesense-we 'know'.
theformsinithisi
15 Significantly, does not appearin anystandarddictionary of Modern
Greek.Cf sinithia, 'custom,habit'(Glendiotsinithio), ClassicalGreeksyn+ethos);sinithizo,
'become accustomed(to)'; sinidhisi, 'conscience', = New Testamentsyneidesis, < syn+ oida
('know') (Latinconscientia, < con+scio).
The termssinithisiandgrousouzia mayhaveescapedethnographers' attention so farbecause
of theirseemingly closeapproximation to,respectively,sinidhisi
and matiasma ('evil eye'); or
theymaynotbe inequallycommonusethroughout Greece.
16 In theCaribbean context, forexample,Wilson's(i969: 79) discussion oftherelativity of
reputation and the absolutecharacter of State-sanctionedrespectabilitysuggestsimmediate
parallelswithMediterranean materials.

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