Read more
Is shame dead? With personal information made so widely available, an eroding public/private distinction, and a therapeutic turn in public discourse, many seem to think so. People across the political spectrum criticize these developments and seek to resurrect shame in order to protect privacy and invigorate democratic politics. Democracy and the Death of Shame reads the fear that 'shame is dead' as an expression of anxiety about the social disturbance endemic to democratic politics. Far from an essential supplement to democracy, the recurring call to 'bring back shame' and other civilizing mores is a disciplinary reaction to the work of democratic citizens who invoke the language of the 'authentic' to extend the meaning of political equality into the social realms. Rereadings from the ancient Cynics to the mid-twentieth century show that shame is not dead at all, but a politically charged idea that is disavowed, invoked, and negotiated in moments of democratic struggle.
List of contents
Part I. Shame's Allure: Introduction. The mythology of Aid¿s; 1. The lament that shame is dead; Part II. Unashamed Citizens: 2. 'A Socrates gone mad': Plato's lament and the threat of cynic shamelessness; 3. Rousseau's pariahs, Rousseau's laments: pudeur and the authentic ideal in revolutionary France; Part III. Contamination and Lamentation: 4. Furious democracy: nineteenth-century 'slut shaming', Indian removal, and the ascent of the 'ill-bred' man; 5. Arendt's lament: the death of shame and the rise of political children; Conclusion. Is shame necessary?
About the author
Jill Locke is a Professor of Political Science at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota.
Summary
Democracy and the Death of Shame traces the lament that 'shame is dead', a cry of civilizational decline that emerges during moments of democratic expansion. It explores shame as a politically charged idea that is disavowed, invoked, and negotiated in moments of democratic struggle.
