Orit Kamir has been researching human dignity and honor (as well as respect and glory) for two decades. Her focus is on honor and dignity in Israeli (and Zionist) society and culture, law, gender and feminism, and (international) film analysis. 

The research originated with the legislation, in 1992, of Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. Research led Kamir to realize that the Hebrew word kavod, which is translated to “human dignity” in the Basic law’s title, actually  denotes a whole category of values, of which dingity is merely one. The Hebrew concept of kavod unites in one term the different concepts that English labels “dignity”, “honor”, “respect” and “glory”. These four English terms have been used to translate diverse aspects of kavod in the Hebrew Bible. 

Honor, as defined by many anthropologists, refers to the fundamental value underlying normative codes in societies called “honor-and-shame”. It is also the value and worth a member of such societies earns and accumulates (by adhering to the group’s honor code) and is entitled to feel in reference to competing peers. Such honor is a relative marker of one’s standing, status and prestige in the group’s pyramid. It is always influenced by every other group member’s moves, and is thus every changing.  Human dignity, in contrast, is the absolute, never changing, universalist value and worth attributed to the humanness of every member of the human family.  Since this humanness is identical in all human beings, so is human dignity. One cannot earn or accumulate it; one is merely prohibited from offending it. Glory, in this typology, is the theological notion of value inherent to every human being made in the image of God. Glory is the theological predecessor of human dignity. Respect (noun), is used to denote the value and worth attributed to the specific traits of a certain individual. It marks the value of unique choices and achievements; not in comparison and competition with peers, all adhering to normative codes, but only against the individual’s free and autonomous preferences. 

Realization of the important similarities and differences of these four values (all intertwined in the Hebrew word kavod) has given rise to dozens of academic articles, several books and hundreds of blog posts (all mostly in Hebrew). All books, articles and posts apply the categorization to history, culture, society, law, film and endless current events. This sheds new light on the analyzed phenomena, as well as on the concepts.