Aasof’s Reflections

Shame is something that we all understand. It doesn’t need explaining it’s part of the ethos of the society to which we belong or, perhaps to be more precise, that sector of society that we belong to. So Giles Fraser’s Thinking Aloud podcast: how valuable is shame? looked as though it would make an interesting link with my post Shame on you – Shame on me.  However, in following up on some links provided in Giles Fraser’s podcast it would seem that I am taking too simplistic a view. Fred Goodwin being stripped of his knighthood and release of the film Shame, has caused Fraser to consider how effective  shame is as a means of punishment and how valuable it is in shaping social norms. In doing so, he quotes the American social critic Christopher Lasch who said that “The trouble with modern culture is that we have lost the shared social and legal boundaries that shame once policed”.   Read more of this post