Shame

More about the book

"In The Politics of Shame, Keen explores the functions of the modern epidemic of shaming. He shows how shame has routinely been weaponised during civil wars, and how the public and private shaming of women has, for centuries, been a major tool of patriarchal control. He examines how and why people are shamed into purchases they cannot afford by a society and economic system predicated on continuous consumption. And he considers how social media has contributed to a spiral of shame, in which those who have been shamed often react by shaming others. Crucially, he also considers the interplay between shame (as a positive and progressive emotion, indicating a desire to move towards collectivism) and shamelessness (as a negative and regressive emotion, indicating a preference for individualism), and whether shame works to improve or worsen behaviour. Keen's narrative is informed by an engaging combination of fieldwork, interviews, and analysis of the theoretical literature on shame across multiple disciplines"--