Shame as Social Pain

Abstract

This paper offers a sociological discussion of shame elaborating on Norbert Elias’s theory of human beings and their emotions. Successively examined are the manifestations by which shame is recognised, the occasions at which it occurs, its functions, and the possibility that those manifestations, occasions, and functions have changed over time. The central thesis is based on the observation that the manifestations of shame are contradictory: in showing shame people voluntarily or involuntarily draw attention to themselves by gestures indicating a wish to hide themselves. In order to explain this contradiction shame is regarded as a signal of ‘social pain’. It is suggested that all normal children are born with a natural capacity for learning to experience shame, to express shame, and to inflict shame upon others.