Is Shame a Female Emotion? The Role of Social Power

Shame occurs when individuals feel a discrepancy between the actual self and the desired self. A key factor that influences their experience of shameExperience of shame is the power they exercise or undergo in their relationships with others, which depends in part on social categories such as gender. First, the present chapter aims to outline how the concept of social powerConcept of social power can be helpful in articulating two distinct forms of shame: a shame related to subordinationSubordination and a shame related to dominanceDominance. The former manifests itself through prosocial expressionsProsocial expressions of appeasement akin to embarrassment and reflects a continuity with subordinate status. Conversely, the latter manifests itself through aggressive reactions close to anger and is likely to be experienced in humiliating situationsHumiliating situations such as temporary loss of statusTemporary loss of status. Second, we believe that this distinction is useful in conceptualising shameConceptualising shame in relation to gender, as the gender distinctionGender distinction often coincides with power imbalance. In particular, we propose to examine the greater tendency of females to report shame than males in light of the level of power associated with each gender. The power distinction coincides with different forms of shame that are based on different social gender expectations and differentially encouraged among men and women, both in terms of their triggers and their expressions. While shame related to subordination has often been investigated and may be more prevalent among women, the shame related to dominance may be a male form of shame and has received less attention.