Shame on History: Reviving an Interdisciplinary Approach to a Key Emotion

My basic purpose in this presentation will be to discuss mutually beneficial relationships between social psychology and the sociology of emotion, on the one hand, and emotions history on the other. Connections with sociology, once fairly vigorous, have frayed somewhat, for reasons I will briefly explore, whereas links with social psychology have been a more consistent challenge. Here too, however, there is considerable opportunity for mutual interaction. Rather than dwell on generalities, however, I will focus on an interdisciplinary approach to shame as a case study. Recent historical work on shame is not abundant, but there is a persuasive general model – on the decline of shame in American society, with the 19th century as turning point, that bears some relationship to social scientific work on honor (and the decline of honor). In contrast, social psychologists have done impressive work on the role of shame in contemporary American settings, finding shame for example a more effective disciplinary emotion than guilt. My discussion will seek to connect the psychological work with new possibilities for historical inquiry, around modifications but also utilization of the earlier historical model. The goal is to advance some useful hypotheses on the contemporary history of shame, but also to illustrate how social-psychological and historical inquiry on emotion can more fruitfully, and regularly, connect.