The Rise Of The Shame Society

American society is often characterized as a “guilt culture,” as opposed to non-Western “shame cultures.” But is this distinction still valid today? Through examples like shaming penalties in criminal law, “fat shaming,” and cyberbullying on the social media, The Rise of the Shame Society: America’s Change from a Guilt Culture into a Shame Culture shows how shame is increasingly invading our lives, leading to feelings of humiliation and depression. Marcel Van Herpen identifies three causes of this phenomenon: new childrearing methods, the advent of the social media, and a transformation of Western individualism. He weighs the arguments for and against a shame society and concludes that a guilt-centered approach remains preferable. Although shame increasingly permeates everyday life, the author argues that its rise is not a fatality. He emphasizes that shame is a dynamic phenomenon and that one can observe trends which lead to an increase of shame, as well as to its decrease. Examples of the latter are a growing sensitivity to the pain caused by anti-Black racism, the decrease of anti-LGBTQIA+ prejudices, and efforts to end the stigmatization of people with disabilities. Along with exploring its increase, The Rise of the Shame Society demonstrates that there are ways to overcome shame.

American society is often characterized as a "guilt culture," as opposed to non-Western "shame cultures." But through examples like shaming penalties in criminal law, "fat shaming," and cyberbullying on the social media, this book shows how and why shame is increasingly invadi...

The Rise of Victimhood Culture offers a framework for understanding recent moral conflicts at U.S. universities, which have bled into society at large. These are not the familiar clashes between liberals and conservatives or the religious and the secular: instead, they are clashes between a new moral culture—victimhood culture—and a more traditional culture of dignity. Even as students increasingly demand trigger warnings and “safe spaces,” many young people are quick to police the words and deeds of others, who in turn claim that political correctness has run amok. Interestingly, members of both camps often consider themselves victims of the other. In tracking the rise of victimhood culture, Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning help to decode an often dizzying cultural milieu, from campus riots over conservative speakers and debates around free speech to the election of Donald Trump.

In The Culture of Shame, Harvard psychiatrist Andrew P. Morrison argues that shame pervades our culture. From its early references in Biblical stories to the works of philosophers such as Nietzsche and Sartre and contemporary novelists Philip Roth and Toni Morrison, the experience of shame emerges as a theme of human experience. Yet, until recently, the psychology profession did not acknowledge the role of shame, focusing instead on guilt. Indeed, our modern culture, which emphasizes independence and personal responsibility, tends to view shame as the mark of an inferior or self-absorbing individual. Shame, which Dr. Morrison defines as a feeling of intrinsic self-worthlessness, is now seen to underlie a range of psychological problems. With clarity and insight, Dr. Morrison traces the development of shame, from infancy through its more sophisticated forms, and explores the roots and expression of shame in our society. Shame gives rise to a wide array of disorders, including depression, addictions, and eating and sexual disorders, as well as emotional problems linked to trauma, gender, race, illness, old age, infertility, and gender. In our society, shame manifests itself through alienation, lack of motivation, and feelings of meaninglessness. In The Culture of Shame, Dr. Morrison exposes the many masks of shame and examines the way shame paralyzes us, individually and culturally. He explains the language of shame and its painful consequences. Through powerful case studies, he illuminates the impact of shame on the lives of individuals and how shame can be overcome. Serious, comprehensive, and authoritative, The Culture of Shame is destined to take its place as an importantcontribution to the literature of human nature.

“Does an excellent job of using evolutionary biology to discuss the origins of religion, music, art, and . . . morality.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review A unique trait of the human species is that our personalities, lifestyles, and worldviews are shaped by an accident of birth—namely, the culture into which we are born. It is our cultures and not our genes that determine which foods we eat, which languages we speak, which people we love and marry, and which people we kill in war. But how did our species develop a mind that is hardwired for culture—and why? Evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel tracks this intriguing question through the last 80,000 years of human evolution, revealing how an innate propensity to contribute and conform to the culture of our birth not only enabled human survival and progress in the past but also continues to influence our behavior today. Shedding light on our species’ defining attributes—from art, morality, and altruism to self-interest, deception, and prejudice—Wired for Culture offers surprising new insights into what it means to be human.

An urgent, illuminating exploration of the social nature of shame and of how it might be used to promote large-scale political change and social reform. “[Jacquet] exposes the ways shame plays into collective ideas of punishment and reward, and the social mechanisms that dictate the ways we dictate our behavior.” —The Boston Globe Examining how we can retrofit the art of shaming for the age of social media, Jennifer Jacquet shows that we can challenge corporations and even governments to change policies and behaviors that are detrimental to the environment. Urgent and illuminating, Is Shame Necessary? offers an entirely new understanding of how shame, when applied in the right way and at the right time, has the capacity to keep us from failing our planet and, ultimately, from failing ourselves.

In this book, first published in 2000, Stephen Pattison considers the nature of shame as it is discussed in the diverse discourses of literature, psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, history and sociology and concludes that 'shame' is not a single unitary phenomenon, but rather a set of separable but related understandings in different discourses. Situating chronic shame primarily within the metaphorical ecology of defilement, pollution and toxic unwantedness, Pattison goes on to examine the causes and effects of shame. He then considers the way in which Christianity has responded to and used shame. Psychologists, philosophers, theologians and therapists will find this a fascinating source of insight, and it will be of particular use to pastoral workers and those concerned with religion and mental health.

The cultural atmosphere is changing so rapidly, it is becoming difficult to maintain perspective and understanding with so many variations. Riots are called peaceful, and only a certain group such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa matter; they demonstrate to defund the police and law enforcement who protect them. Babies are killed in the womb, and it is justified as women's rights. Illegal drugs, which are destructive to the mind and the body, are now legal and accessible. God's plan for marriage between a man and a woman is blatantly disregarded to accommodate same-sex marriage, transgenderism, and the LGBT movement agenda. It is now permissible for transgender males to compete in female sports. Our young people are a confused generation who have no ethical or moral compass. This thinking comes from the organizations who have no concept or morality or compassion and deny that there is a God. If anything makes them feel ashamed of their motives or sinfulness, they "cancel" it with the goal of changing culture.