Chechen-Ingush - Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Traditional Chechen-Ingush society is highly egalitarian. The only hierarchical relationships are those of age, kinship, and earned social honor. Hierarchical relationships are signaled and maintained by two partly intersecting forms of behavior that can be called "deference" and "formality." Deference is a form of interaction; it includes rising (by men) or standing (by women) in the presence of the deferree, maintaining silence to some extent, and markedly formal behavior; details of deference differ depending on the situation and kin relation between the individuals. A man gives deference to older males in his own clan (including his own father and older brothers) and to all males of his mother's clan (since to all of them he is a nephew and hence counts as younger). A woman similarly gives deference to elders, to members of her mother's clan, and to in-laws. All members of society, even children, offer deference to people who have earned particular respect. Formality is not necessarily a form of interaction; it is triggered by the mere presence of a relevant person. One is formal in the presence of elders (especially deferrees). Formality involves dignified behavior, erect posture, measured speech, and refraining from any form of intimacy (expression of one's personal feelings, displays of affection, etc.). Proper observance of formality and deference are particularly important to the institution of hospitality. Hospitality remains central even in modern urban life. To fail or refuse to give hospitality is unthinkable; to decline to take it (or, more generally, to fail to maximize others' opportunities to offer it) is ill-mannered and offensive. Observance of all aspects of the etiquette of deference and formality is an essential part of ethnic identity. Proper behavior and the code of etiquette are not explicitly taught to children, who are expected to observe for themselves and learn.

Political Organization. Villages were traditionally autonomous (although villages, or perhaps clans, apparently held mutual defense obligations in times of warfare). Clans were also autonomous in their respective spheres. Each clan had a headman, typically a respected elder. Clans had religious and legal responsibilities, which to some extent they still retain, as well as shared economic interests. Clans or subclans had support obligations in vendettas. Clans still have their own traditional cemeteries. In villages, elders held collective adjudicatory responsibilities.

Social Control and Conflict. Social control in this egalitarian society was effected by a system in which bringing honor to one's household, clan, and ancestors was highly valued, and bringing dishonor was avoided even at high cost. A man could bring honor to his line by scrupulous lifelong observance of formality and deference, generous hospitality, and economic productivity. He could bring dishonor by failure to observe formality or deference, failure to extend hospitality, and apparently also by failure to receive hospitality (or create opportunities to receive it). Women were credited with maintaining harmony within household and community and with making hospitality possible; thus they indirectly brought honor to their households and ultimately to their husband's clan. A woman could dishonor clan and household by immodest public behavior or by nonchastity (especially nonvirginity at marriage); rape brought dishonor to the woman's household and clan (the man risked retaliation but not dishonor). The system was enforced by feuding: offenses against deference, the rape of a marriageable woman or public questioning of her chastity, the kidnapping of a bride, murder, and perhaps grave offenses against hospitality could all trigger feuds.

Women were, for all practical purposes, owned by the immediate head of household (father or brother, husband) and ultimately by his clan. Their chastity, especially their virginity before marriage, was jealously guarded. Rape made a woman unmarriageable (and since elopement was minimally distinguishable from rape, a change of mind on the man's part in the first days could render the woman permanently unmarriageable). A nonvirgin bride was rejected and left disgraced and unmarriageable (but traditional custom seems to have given young men little experience that would enable them to judge virginity with great accuracy). Nevertheless, especially prior to the conversion to Islam, a certain amount of sexual freedom for married women is suggested in some folklore and historical sources.