FAME/SHAME binary opposition

[Lily Alexander]

Dear Colleagues,

There is an anthropological concept and a binary opposition FAME / SHAME 
(see below), which allows to assess a given in the context of how this 
opposition works at a given time period. We may assume that it is 
different for different cultures, for different foundational myths, and 
perhaps even changing to some extent every 10 /20 /30 years or so within 
the same national culture. This of course is reflected in the 
literature, media and culture in so many ways.
 
The American school (school of thought that is) of the sociology of 
collective emotions tend to believe that a notion and experience of 
shame (in the deepest sense) is being  supressed in American culture in 
many ways.

There are many contexts of course: remorse, law, masculinity, rivalry, 
status, hierarchy, confession in a public sphere, the Fifth, and what 
not...  Numerous fascinating and controdictory contexts.
For example, shame has been used in the purpose of marketing (notoriety 
sells, there is no such thing as bad shame, etc.).

I would be very interested in the opinions on what exactly is going on 
with this binary opposition recently, and perhaps also touching a few 
preceding decades comparatively in the American and post-Soviet cultures.

Of course, it is a huge topic. But very interesting to think about, 
perhaps for those of us who are not traveling right now.  And those 
colleagues who are enjoying traveling at this moment, have probably 
shamelessly forgotten about this list.  Good for them... :-)

Anyway, for comparison I posted below a definition, which largely 
applies to the Japanese tradition (but not only).  As Levi-Strauss  
suggested the key binary oppositions can contribute to the describtion 
of a given culture.

 I would welcome your thoughts, no matter how polished/unpolished - 
please fire away - questions, ideas, controversies, commentaries, etc, 
especialy in comparative context.

Thank you in advance.

Lily Alexander

> FAME/SHAME CULTURE: The anthropological term for a culture in which 
> masculine behavior revolves around a code of martial honor. These 
> cultures embody the idea of "death before dishonor." Such 
> civilizations often glorify military prowess and romanticize death in 
> battle. Typically, such a society rewards men who display bravery by 
> (a) engaging in risk-taking behavior to enhance one's reputation, (b) 
> facing certain death in preference to accusations of cowardice, and 
> (c) displaying loyalty to one's king, chieftain, liege lord, or other 
> figure in the face of adversity. Those in power may reward such brave 
> followers with land, material wealth, or social status, but the most 
> important and most typical reward is fame or a good reputation. 
> Especially in fatalistic fame/shame cultures, fame is the most 
> valuable reward since it alone will exist after a hero's death. Just 
> as such cultures reward bravery, loyalty, and martial prowess with the 
> promise of fame, they punish cowardice, treachery, and weakness in 
> battle with the threat of shame and mockery. A fame/shame culture is 
> only successful in regulating behavior when an individual's fear of 
> shame outweighs the fear of death. This dichotomy of fame/shame serves 
> as a carrot and stick to regulate behavior in an otherwise chaotic and 
> violent society. Sample behaviors linked with fame/shame cultures 
> include the beot 
> <http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html#beot_anchor> in 
> Anglo-Saxon culture, the act of "counting coup" among certain 
> Amerindian tribes, displays of trophies among certain head-hunting 
> tribes and the Irish Celts, and the commemoration of war-heros in 
> stone monuments or songs in cultures worldwide.
>
> We can see signs of fame/shame culture in the heroic poetry of the 
> Anglo-Saxons 
> <http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html#anglo-saxon_anchor>, 
> where the poem "The Battle of Maldon" praises by name those warriors 
> who stood their ground with Byrtnoth to die fighting the Viking 
> invaders and condemns by name those men who fled the battle and 
> survived. Characteristically, the poem lists the men's lineage in 
> order to spread the honor or shame to other family members as well. 
> The poem Beowulf also shows signs of fame/shame culture in the 
> behavior of Hrothgar's coast-guard, who challenges over a dozen 
> gigantic armed men, and the boasts (beot 
> <http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html#beot_anchor>) of Beowulf 
> himself.
>
> It is interesting that not all militaristic or violent cultures use 
> the fame/shame social mechanism to ensure bravery and regulate martial 
> behavior. Fame/shame cultures require men to deliberately seek the 
> rewards of bravery and consciously fear the social stigma of 
> cowardice. The point isn't that a hero is unafraid of death. The point 
> is that the hero acts in spite of being afraid. In contrast, some 
> martial cultures seek to short-circuit fear by repressing it or by 
> encouraging warriors to enter altered states of consciousness. 
> Medieval Vikings had the tradition of the berserker 
> <http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html#berserker_anchor>, in 
> which the warrior apparently entered a hypnogogic, frenzied state to 
> lose his awareness of fear and pain. Similarly, the path of bushido 
> among the Japanese samauri was heavily influenced by the Buddhist 
> doctrine of nirvana (mental and emotional emptiness), in which the 
> warrior enters combat in a Zen-like emotional state, a mindset in 
> which he is divorced from his emotions and thoughts so that his 
> martial behavior is reflexive and automatic rather than emotional. The 
> samauri class went so far as to have a funeral for living warriors as 
> soon as they entered the service of a Japanese lord because the 
> samauri accepted their own deaths as soon as they took the path of 
> bushido, and were thus accordingly cut off from the ties of family and 
> loved ones.
>
>  
>

 

 


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