Author(s):
Baudy, Dorothea
|
Huxel, Kirsten
[German Version]
I. Religious Studies A sense of shame is a fundamental element of being human. It is a social feeling that ensues when one becomes aware of a shortcoming that might offend others. Unlike a sense of guilt, it does not presuppose an actual transgression. Shame is therefore not just a concomitant of behavior subject to social condemnation, such as violation of a sexual taboo, dishonesty, cowardice, or disloyalty; it is also a reaction to situations for which the individual has no responsibility. Individuals can be ashamed of their poverty or background, as well as of physical or mental defects. Through identification it is possible to be ashamed of close friends and relatives or larger communities (e.g. one’s country) and ultimately of any “shameful” human action. Shame can also influence action prospectively: a person who behaves “shamefacedly” avoids exposing intimate physical features and modes of behavior that would result in embarrassment and shame. Psychological research has increasingly addressed the social and educational aspect of this feeling. In cultural studies, the work of N. Elias has played an important role; he sought to use the advance of the shame threshold as a bellwether for the “process of civilization.” Although he emphasized that the sense of shame is both natural and historical in nature, his approach runs the risk of promoting evolutionism from a Eurocentric perspective and has therefore drawn criticism from Duerr, who points out the universal nature of shame, although without grounding it in theological anthropology, as might seem natural. No one challenges the cultural variability of the norms wh…