ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the phenomenon of shame both culturally, that is, across various cultures, as a relativist; and cross-culturally, thinking through the cultural differences, as a universalist. It reviews theories of shame in and from different cultures, the most noticeable motif is the division of the world into shame-cultures and guilt-cultures. Shame is a word that is so much easier to describe than to define. It is a universally shared experience with many facets and nuances. The Greeks used Aidos for the quality that restrains man from doing wrong and Aischron for disgrace. Hindi has three words for shame that can be translated as shame, modesty, and dishonor. While English does not have two words for shame, it does, interestingly, have two opposites for it: shameless and unashamed. Jean-Paul Sartre in his seminal work, Being and Nothingness posits a relationship between shame and the sense of Self.
