Wilder Explains The Concept of "Izzat"

There is a book by  Joseph Henrich called The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous which primarily is about how psychological and sociological research shows that white Westerners are very different--an anomaly, really--from other races and cultures. Something that people often forget is that foreign countries are "foreign" because they do things differently, think differently, have different values, etc. 

    John Wilder dives into a primary difference between India and Indians from Westerners--their concept of "izzat"--and how it makes them fundamentally incompatible with Western values. Wikipedia notes that:

Broadly speaking, izzat primarily refers to the reputation of oneself and one's family in the eyes of society. Maintaining this societal reputation by all necessary means is considered obligatory upon every man and woman, as is revenge or punishment upon those who have or are perceived as having directly or indirectly violated it.   

As Wilder explains:

There is no direct translation of izzat as far as I know, and I know a lot of words.  It’s a weird (to a Westerner) concept of collective and individual honor and status.  The reason it is so weird is that it is honor that is completely stripped from the concept of right and wrong.  Izzat is all about winning and losing.   

And part of "izzat" is accumulating it for your kith and kin. For instance, the Wikipedia article notes that "[i]n post-independence India, the 'politics of izzat' has been cited as a key reason for the rise of elected politicians from hitherto-backward communities, who have done little to economically benefit their communities but have created greater izzat for them by creating powerful political blocs." The same applies to business, as Wilder describes in his article, and explains their drive to only hire other Indians.