Shame is one of the most stigmatized and stigmatizing of emotions. Often characterized as an emotion in which the subject holds a global, negative self-assessment, shame is typically understood to mark the subject as being inadequate in some way, and a sizable amount of work on shame focuses on its problematic or unhealthy aspects, effects, or consequences. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Shame reorients readers to a more balanced understanding of what shame is, as well as its value and social function. The contributors recognize shame as a complex, richly layered, conscious or unconscious phenomenon, and the collection offers an understanding of how theories of shame can help or hinder us in understanding ourselves, others, and the world around us. It also highlights how a diverse range of perspectives on shame can enlighten our understanding of both the positive and negative aspects of this powerful emotion. Edited by Cecilea Mun, these chapters by an international group of scholars reflect a broad range of methods, disciplinary perspectives, and both theoretical and practical concerns regarding shame.

Each essay in this volume provides a cultural perspective on shame. More specifically, each chapter focuses on the question of how culture can differentially affect experiences of shame for members of that culture. As a collection, this volume provides a cross-cultural perspective on shame, highlighting the various similarities and differences of experiences of shame across cultures. In Part 1, each contributor focuses primarily on how shame is theorized in a non-English-speaking culture, and address how the science of shame ought to be pursued, how it ought to identify its object of study, what methods are appropriate for a rigorous science of shame, and how a method of study can determine or influence a theory of shame. In Part 2, each contributor is primarily concerned with a cultural practice of shame, and addresses how shame is related to a normative understanding of our self as a person and an individual member of a community, how culture and politics affect the value and import of shame, and what the relationship between culture and politics is in the construction of shamed identities. Cultural Perspectives on Shame will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in cross-cultural philosophy, philosophy of emotion, moral psychology, and the social sciences.

Is shame social? Is it superficial? Is it a morally problematic emotion? Researchers in disciplines as different as psychology, philosophy, and anthropology have thought so. But what is the nature of shame and why are claims regarding its social nature and moral standing interesting and important? Do they tell us anything worthwhile about the value of shame and its potential legal and political applications?In this book, Julien A. Deonna, Raffaele Rodogno, and Fabrice Teroni propose an original philosophical account of shame aimed at answering these questions. The book begins with a detailed examination of the evidence and arguments that are taken to support what they call the two dogmas about shame: its alleged social nature and its morally dubious character. Their analysis is conducted against the backdrop of a novel account of shame and ultimately leads to the rejection of these two dogmas. On this account, shame involves a specific form of negative evaluation that the subject takes towards herself: a verdict of incapacity with regard to values to which she is attached. One central virtue of the account resides in the subtle manner it clarifies the ways in which the subject's identity is at stake in shame, thus shedding light on many aspects of this complex emotion and allowing for a sophisticated understanding of its moral significance.This philosophical account of shame engages with all the current debates on shame as they are conducted within disciplines as varied as ethics, moral, experimental, developmental and evolutionary psychology, anthropology, legal studies, feminist studies, politics and public policy.

In this collection leading thinkers, writers, and activists offer their responses to the simple question “do I have a body, or am I my body?”. The essays engage with the array of meanings that our bodies have today, ranging from considerations of nineteenth-century discourses of bodily shame and otherness, through to arguing for a brand new corporeal vocabulary for the twenty-first century. Increasing numbers of people are choosing to modify their bodies, but as the essays in this volume show, this is far from being a new practice: over hundreds of years, it has evolved and accrued new meanings. This richly interdisciplinary volume maps a range of cultural anxieties about the body, resulting in a timely and compelling book that makes a vital contribution to today’s key debates about embodiment.

This volume combines empirical research-based and theoretical perspectives on shame in cultural contexts and from socio-culturally different perspectives, providing new insights and a more comprehensive cultural base for contemporary research and practice in the context of shame. It examines shame from a positive psychology perspective, from the angle of defining the concept as a psychological and cultural construct, and with regard to practical perspectives on shame across cultures. The volume provides sound foundations for researchers and practitioners to develop new models, therapies and counseling practices to redefine and re-frame shame in a way that leads to strength, resilience and empowerment of the individual.

This timely collection brings together a diverse array of field-leading contributors in order to offer an interdisciplinary investigation into a discourse, research, and action agenda in pursuit of the universal application of human dignity.

This book addresses the eclipse of shame in Christian theology by showing how shame emerges in Christian texts and practice in ways that can be neither assimilated into a discourses of guilt nor dissociated from embodiment. Stephanie N. Arel argues that the traditional focus on guilt obscures shame by perpetuating the image of the lonely sinner in guilt. Drawing on recent studies in affect and attachment theories to frame the theological analysis, the text examines the theological anthropological writings of Augustine and Reinhold Niebuhr, the interpretation of empathy by Edith Stein, and moments of touch in Christian praxis. Bringing the affective dynamics of shame to the forefront enables theologians and religious leaders to identify where shame emerges in language and human behavior. The text expands work in trauma theory, providing a multi-layered theological lens for engaging shame and accompanying suffering.

This book provides new ideas on how to work with and constructively transform shame on a theoretical and practical level, and in various socio-cultural contexts and professions. It provides practical guidelines on dealing with shame on the basis of reflection, counselling models, exercises, simulations, specific psychotherapeutic approaches, and auto-didactical learning material, so as to transform shame from a negatively experienced emotion into a mental health resource. The book challenges theorists to adopt an interdisciplinary stance and to think “outside the box.” Further, it provides practitioners, such as coaches, counsellors, therapists, trainers and medical personnel, with practical tools for transforming negative experiences and emotions. In brief, the book shows practitioners how to unlock the growth potential of individuals, teams, and organisations, allowing them to develop constructively and positively.

In this book, Cecilea Mun introduces an innovative meta-framework for conducting interdisciplinary research in the science of emotion, broadly construed, as well as a framework for a particular kind of theory of emotion. She provides new solutions and arguments in support of an embodied cognitive approach to resolving a wide range of problems, including those concerning skepticism, the place of ordinary intuitions for the science of emotion, intentionality, the rationality of emotions, naturalizing knowledge, and the debate between philosophical cognitive and noncognitive theories of emotion. Her solutions include a revolutionary, unifying, interdisciplinary taxonomy of theories of emotion, which allows one to understand the discourse in the science of emotion as a debate between four fundamental types of theories: realism, instrumentalism, eliminativism, and eliminative-realism. Her original proposal for a conception of intentionality that makes sense of our ordinary intuitions is also combined with her comprehensive account of rationality to articulate a groundbreaking understanding of the structure of human rationality. All of the contributions made herein, together, provide the foundations for a profound understanding of emotions, including as a kind of embodied language.

This book takes James Gilligan’s theory of shame and violence as a starting point for an application of the model across disciplines (psychology, sociology, philosophy, political science, cultural studies, history, architecture and urban studies) and levels of analysis (from the individual to the global). It critically engages with shame theory, exploring the existential origins, the emotional, linguistic, cognitive and cultural manifestations and symptoms of shame—in the mind, in the body, in public space and in the civic culture—and its relationship with other emotions, such as anger, guilt and pride. It also examines the role of shame in communities that are at the fault lines of current affairs, identity politics and “culture wars”, such as Brexit, trans rights, and racial equality. The book contributes to the literature on political psychology and psychosocial studies by facilitating an innovative application of the concept of shame: blending theory and practice, focusing on gender as a key lever of the mechanism of shame, and exploring the mechanics of shame and shame awareness, so as to seek and propose a range of guiding principles, practical models and possible solutions for the future.