Details

Subject(s)

• Democracy [Browse]
• Shame—Political aspects [Browse]
• Shame—Social aspects [Browse]
• Equality [Browse]
• Political participation [Browse]
• Political sociology [Browse]
• Political science—Philosophy [Browse]

Summary note

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 have criticized these developments and sought 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 extend the meaning of political equality into social realms. Rereadings from the ancient Cynics to the mid-twentieth century challenge the view that shame is dead and show how shame, as a politically charged idea, is disavowed, invoked, and negotiated in moments of democratic struggle.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-189) and index.

Contents

• The lament that shame is dead
• "A Socrates gone mad": Plato's lament and the threat of cynic shamelessness
• Rousseau's pariahs, Rousseau's laments: Pudeur and the authentic ideal in revolutionary France
• Furious democracy: Nineteenth-century "slut shaming," Indian removal, and the ascent of the "ill-bred" man
• Arendt's lament: the death of shame and the rise of political children
• Conclusion: Is shame necessary?

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ISBN

• 9781107063198 (hardcover ; : alkaline paper)
• 1107063191 (hardcover ; : alkaline paper)

LCCN

2015039552

OCLC

941577084

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