Shame by Association

This chapter continues the discussion in Chap. 3 by studying additional structures of meaning in the social world that configure many of our experiences of shame. There are multiple forms of associations with different possibilities for the experience of shame depending on the association and one’s place within it. Unlike cases of shame discussed in the previous chapters, the subject does not have to do anything in order to experience the painful emotion caused by an associative relationship. Several examples are discussed from different times and places and from fictional sources such as literature to show how collective shame can be imposed on individual members of an association and, conversely, how individual members can shame collectives.