ABSTRACT

This book covers a wide range of topics related to honor and shame in European historical societies: history of law and literature, social and ancient history, as well as theoretical contributions on the state of research and the importance of honor and shame in traditional societies.

Honor and shame in Western History brings together 14 texts of interdisciplinary scholars from Europe and North America. It covers a wide range of topics related to honor and shame in historical societies. The contributions cover periods of Western history from Greek and Roman times to the nineteenth century and many of them integrate the concept of a "deep history" of honor and shame in social interaction.

The book is essential for a broad audience interested in social history and the history of emotions.

part I|71 pages

Honor and Shame: Concepts and Challenges

chapter 1|18 pages

The Unwieldy Phenomenon of Honor

chapter 2|18 pages

Shame

A Social Emotion and Its Cultural Concepts in a Historical (European) Perspective

part II|89 pages

Honor and Shame in Traditional European Societies

chapter 4|16 pages

Honor–Shame Dynamics in Late Antiquity

Balance and Control

chapter 6|17 pages

Better to die in honor than to live in shame?

A Comparative Approach to the Literary Dynamics of Honor and Shame in French Chanson de Geste, Romance, and Fabliau (Twelfth to Thirteenth Centuries)

chapter 7|16 pages

The Dynamics of Gender-Specific Honor and Shame in the Middle Ages

The Nibelungenlied as Example

chapter 9|9 pages

Christian Humility, Papal Humiliations

An Honor-and-Shame Criterion in the Church's History Grand Narratives

part III|88 pages

Honor and Shame in Modernity

chapter 10|16 pages

Collective Shame in the Modern World

The Case of Blasphemy Laws and Tolerant Sensibilities

chapter 11|16 pages

The Culture of American Dueling under Attack

The 1856 Public Beating of an Abolitionist Massachusetts Senator by a South Carolina Congressman

chapter 12|20 pages

Brought Up with Shame

Trans-Generational Perspectives on Disciplinary Correction in Finland during the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries