ASSESSING THE PERCEPTION OF TWO GENERATIONS IN THE MAINTENANCE OF HONOR KILLING: A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Honor killing is a complex social phenomenon arising from system norms that govern family, social unit, and community relationships in countries where it occurs. It is particularly prevalent in communities or societies where it is ingrained in traditions and heritages. Although it is a global phenomenon (Warraich, 2005) found in many South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, and several European countries (Ali, 2008), there has not been any concerted effort to study the phenomenon more systematically. This proposed study is the first attempt to explore more systematically some of the factors that maintain honor killing. To that end, we are presenting preliminary data where we included two age groups representing two different generations and different geographical locations (e.g., India and the USA, particularly New York) to allow us to examine the extent to which these factors may be impacting views of honor killing. The project focused on the Indian population because of the researcher’s familiarity with that community Such familiarity was expected to bring an important perspective on the issue. The findings are expected to provide a more systematic understanding of this phenomenon that could guide more systematic intervention to ultimately prevent honor killing