The foundational concept is Guilt vs. Shame Cultures. The diagram below explains the difference:
I'm beginning to believe that MOST cultures are Shame-type. Their greatest fear is that others will know of their guilt.
In the first quadrant: both the person and others believe him to be guilty of the offense - the result is the same - he admits guilt, and is punished.
In the 4th quadrant: both the person and other believe him to be not guilty - the result is the same - no problem.
The 3rd quadrant is interesting, as the person knows that he is guilty, and others do not. In the Guilt Culture (old-style Christianity), that person would feel guilty, even though others do not know of his guilt. That sense of guilt was strongly reinforced by a culture that believed in God. Even if others did not know of your guilt, God would, and, therefore, you SHOULD feel guilty.
That contrast in culture was written about in The Scarlet Letter - the minister feels guilty, even though his part in the crime of adultery wasn't known. The Scarlet Letter he wore under his clothes was a manifestation of that guilt.
The protagonist, Hester Prynne, follows the judgement of a Shame culture. She has been publicly shamed by being sentenced to wear the letter, but seems not to have been at all concerned about her guilt before her pregnancy made it known, and forced the issue.
The 2nd quadrant brings up an interesting question: as the Germans have erased any mention of Nazis and their actions from their history, are modern Germans adopting the Shame Culture attitude that, since no one knows of my guilt, I am not shamed? Therefore, I can lecture others about their Fascism, while ignoring my own.
In the case of Jews' demonization in modern Euro life, Richard Landes discusses the implications of a Shame Culture anxious to throw off that shame. Read more about it here.
3 comments:
The retreat of Europe from Christianity and Christian ethics perfectly correlates with the descent of Europe from a Guilt culture to a Shame culture. Europe’s attitude toward the Jews and Israel provides a reliable metric of that descent. The steady importation of Middle Eastern Muslims -- a stereotypical Shame culture -- appears to correlate with it as well.
My own take on this kind of thing is that it is understandable as a subset of a larger picture pitting extroverts against introverts.
Psychopathy (or, more generally, socially predatory behavior), envy, and narcissism are all sort of 'extrovert diseases'. Introverts generally don't have the bent towards the social sphere to wind up too caught up in these tendencies. They don't pay enough attention, and don't have the 'social energy' to get too involved. Guilt vs. shame also fits this pattern of differential tendencies.
As America (historically composed of people with introverted tendencies) absorbs more and more extroverts, we see this tension between its historical culture clash with the cultural tendencies of the rest of the world, most of which is much more extroverted, at least in my estimation. I am not a super-worldly person (being an introvert!), but that is my impression. Northern/Western Europe seems the only place with an any substantially introverted tendency among its population.
Everywhere else, the extroversion is overwhelming. And, as introverts are almost by definition not going to have influence over social situations in proportion to their numbers, as the tendencies of 'everywhere else' spread through our societies, we can expect the social dynamic to change pretty dramatically.
I've wanted for some time to knock out a series of blog posts on these thoughts, but alas, alas... These days I even have trouble with a comment of any substance!
Rather than extrovert/introvert, I prefer to think of them as:
- governed by internal beliefs/morals
- governed by external beliefs/morals
There are those that can only restrain their impulses for evil by being forced to by someone/family/culture/authority. These are the Shame people. If their inward evil is not known to others, they are able to ignore its presence.
We who have internalized morality, and operate from our own sense of right, are restrained by our conscience. These are the Guilt people. We are capable of mastering our impulses, and expect others to do so, as well. Whether or not our internal sin is known to other men, we are cognizant of it, and will respond appropriately, seeking forgiveness, making restitution, and changing what we do.
That was actually the point of tearing down Christian morality. Those who do, ridicule us for sinning, and call us hypocrites, in essence, shaming us publicly (that whole shouldn't-shame thing apparently doesn't apply to us).
We need to help other sinners to recognize that they CAN amend their lives, and internalize their sense of sin. And, that, as they work to fight their sinful tendencies, God does realize our efforts, and loves us for our struggles.
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