ABSTRACT
U.S. society seems to be experiencing a dramatic wave of interest and public debate about shame and guilt. On one side, scholars decry the destruction of pride and self-esteem that shame and guilt can wreak on individuals, relationships, organizations, and nations; on the other side, scholars argue that a return to shame and guilt represents an attitude of awe or respect toward the values that are central to culture and to all human interaction. This review draws on the scholarly and popular literature on messages about shame and guilt to address this debate. Specifically, the authors review the grounds or bases for inducing shame and guilt in messages and then the consequences that messages of shame or guilt have for esteem, control, and connection at four levels of analysis: intimate dyads, families, organizations, and public messages. Finally, the authors pose a series of questions that can be used to frame the discussion of an ethics of shame and guilt messages.
Though shame is a negative emotion in contrast with honor, this does not mean that it is bad to feel shame, to be shameless, is a profound vice, perhaps the worst of all vices.
Robert Solomon, “The Emotions of Justice,” 229None of us is clean, and this is no excuse; our very dirtiness ties us to the earth, to life, and claims our commitment to make things better.
Frederick Turner, “Shame, Beauty, and the Tragic View of History,” 256