HBO's The Wire examines the relationship between institutions and individuals in American society and concludes that institutions restrict the agency of individuals, and series creator David Simon likens the power of institutions to the gods of Greek tragedy. In this project, I argue that shame culture enables institutions to have the social influence described by Simon. The paper's introduction defines the term "shame culture" and distinguishes it from "guilt culture," and I use medieval examples of shame culture to illustrate how shame functions in The Wire. This paper divides its detailed discussion of The Wire into four sections, each of which focuses on a different institution. The essay's first section explores how drug dealers and criminals use their reputations aggressively to build drug empires or simply survive, as the characters Marlo Stanfield, a drug kingpin, and Omar Little, a stickup artist, demonstrate. The second section examines Marlo and Omar's influence on young drug dealers, called corner kids in the series, and I argue that the public schools cannot prevent shame from being ingrained in these children. The third section focuses on police officers and, specifically, eventual police commissioner Cedric Daniels, and I examine how the police department's preoccupation with crime statistics reveals their dependence on shame and reputation—the police force is ineffective since they mirror in many ways the criminals they are trying to arrest. Lastly, the essay's fourth section analyzes politicians in The Wire and how Mayor Carcetti is powerless to respond to and exacerbates the city's social problems due to his need to preserve his public image. The paper concludes that social reform that grants agency to individuals in The Wire is impossible as long as shame culture shapes the various institutions depicted in the series.

This thesis is a study of gender and honour, focusing on NGO’s who work to support women in Sweden who have escaped honour violence. The purpose of this thesis is to find out and explain how they make sense of honour and more specifically, to investigate how does Swedish authorities can help the Middle Eastern women who are victims under this tradition. My focus through this thesis will be on the data analysis, moreover, using intersectionality as an analytical tool will help to explain the intersections which lead to the honour killings. The results show that the honour violence still exists in the Swedish society as well as the Middle East, in addition, some Middle Eastern people who moved to Sweden still believe and practice the honour culture in the Swedish society. More than that, I got the answers for all the research questions which helped me to clarify the relation between honour and its intersections which helped me to know the reasons why does the Honour violence/killings can happen. The answers agree that the honour violence is connected to the shame and guilt cultures. The meaning of honour is different in different cultures. Most of the honour related cases have women as victims. The honour has many intersections, most of them related to virginity, homosexuality, out marriage relations and rape. The Swedish organisations offer help for the victims of honour.  More than that, reading my thesis will give the reader the understanding of the phenomena of Honour, its intersections and how it does exist in the Middle Eastern culture and its old traditions. / Gender Studies

本研究採情境實驗法，探討具有「道德臉面」威脅的請託情境，如何影響個人選擇不同的求助對象。研究一操弄請託情境為「有關」vs.「無關」道德臉面的威脅。結果發現：在「無關」道德臉面威脅的情境，絕大多數的問卷填答者，選擇向情感性關係的家人求助，這時個人決定找家人幫忙的主要考量，是希望獲得「較好的協助」；反之，在「有關」道德臉面威脅的情境下，絕大多數的問卷填答者，選擇向工具性關係的陌生人求助，而此時個人主要的考量，是為了「維護面子」。不過，在「有關」道德臉面威脅的請託情境，又無陌生人可以求助的情況，問卷填答者選擇向家人或朋友求助的人數，並沒有顯著的差異。 研究二操弄威脅「道德臉面」的請託情境，事件當事人和請託者之間不同的自我關聯程度（自己vs. 家人vs. 朋友），以及此失面子事件的發生，是否有一可被接受或同情的「合理藉口」。研究發現：當「自己」就是事件當事人，且沒有合理藉口時，問卷填答者傾向選擇工具性關係的陌生人求助。反之，如果事件的發生有一可解釋的外在理由，則問卷填答者選擇向陌生人和朋友求助的人數沒有顯著差異。當事件當事人是「家人」且沒有合理藉口時，填答者同樣會選擇向陌生人求助。不過，當「家人」有可被同情的藉口時，則絕大多數的填答者，選擇向朋友求助。在當事人是「朋友」的情境，則不管事件發生的理由為何，大多數的問卷填答者，均選擇向混合性關係的其他朋友求助。與研究一相同的是問卷填答者在選擇向「朋友」求助時，考量的因素是希望能獲得「較好的協助」，反之，當其選擇向「陌生人」求助時，考量的因素則是希望能「維護面子」。 研究三則設計在威脅個人「道德臉面」的請託情境中，有一些可以讓事件當事人覺得不會沒面子的可幫助熟識者（同事）。並操弄讓當事人感到「沒面子」程度不同的求助對象選擇（同事vs.陌生人vs.家人vs.朋友）。研究發現：當有不會讓當事人覺得沒面子的對象存在時，問卷填答者多優先選擇向此對象（同事）求助。只有在沒有此對象可以選擇的情況下，填答者才會退而求其次地選擇向「陌生人」求助，在連陌生人也無法選擇的情況下，問卷填答者選擇向家人或朋友求助的人數則沒有顯著差異。分析研究的資料則發現，影響問卷填答者分別選擇向「同事」、「陌生人」、「家人」或「朋友」求助的主要因素，是因為相對而言，在該不同求助對象的選擇下，問卷填答者對該對象比較不會覺得「沒面子」。 整體而言，在威脅「道德臉面」的請託情境中，最能預測問卷填答者，選擇哪一種關係對象求助的預測變項，是其「沒面子」的感受，而非西方個人主義文化中強調的「自尊」。同時，當個人因覺得「沒面子」而選擇向陌生人求助時，其考量的主要因素是希望能「維護面子」。換言之，在會威脅自己面子的情況下，是否能獲得對方「比較好的協助」，則不是那麼重要。

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