Humiliation Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Introduction In recent years, looking for an answer to the question what is behind the rise of political Islam and the terrorist attacks by the hand of a few of its advocates, a number of authors have put forward the view that some... more

Introduction In recent years, looking for an answer to the question what is behind the rise of political Islam and the terrorist attacks by the hand of a few of its advocates, a number of authors have put forward the view that some Muslims feel that their culture is superior, but at the same time fear that in today's world their way of life is threatened and that their honor is at stake. Presumably, the resulting feelings of humiliation are among the causes of the terrorist attacks we have witnessed in recent years.

This project will bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines (including sociology, cultural studies, neuroscience, film and media studies) to investigate the experience of cringe as a key symptom of the contemporary cultural... more

This project will bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines (including sociology, cultural studies, neuroscience, film and media studies) to investigate the experience of cringe as a key symptom of the contemporary cultural landscape. Cringe humour and other cringeworthy experiences across the media articulate a deeply-felt discomfort, one that is linked to the inability to successfully adopt political correctness, and to changing attitudes in the cultural mainstream. The experience of cringe involves the inability to extricate yourself (or to look away) from unpleasant situations, resulting in feelings of vicarious shame (Fremdschämen), for example when watching diplomatic blunders committed by prominent statesmen, uncomfortable ‘dare you’ challenges on social media platforms, and the kind of ‘unstable jokes’ to be found in transgressive comedy formats that involve protected groups like ethnic minorities and disabled people, even though the targets of the jokes are not al-ways clear.
The symposium will approach the phenomenon of painful laughter and cringing in three thematic sections: (I) psychology and affect, (II) the mediality of cringe (where ‘reality’ aesthetics and humiliation rituals play a role), and (III) the politics of cringe (where norms and values are renegotiated to indicate discomfort on a collective level).
Each of these sections will involve junior academics (including Ph.D. candidates) as well as more experienced researchers who currently work on cringe and related phenomena like awkwardness and disparagement. The aim is not just to initiate a conversation on a level playing field between participants at different career stages, with everyone contributing both as a presenter and as a respondent, but also to spark a conversation between the German and the Anglo-American research landscape.

The central question in this article is whether an empirical-legal approach of victimhood and victim rights could offer a sufficient basis for proposals of legal reform of the legal system. In this article, we choose a normative-critical... more

The central question in this article is whether an empirical-legal approach of victimhood and victim rights could offer a sufficient basis for proposals of legal reform of the legal system. In this article, we choose a normative-critical approach and raise some objections to the way in which part of such research is currently taking place in the Netherlands, on the basis of two examples of research in this field, one dealing with compelled apologies as a possible remedy within civil procedural law and the other with the victim’s right to be heard within the criminal legal procedure. In both cases, we argue, the strong focus on the measurable needs of victims can lead to a relatively instrumental view of the legal system. The legal system must then increasingly be tailored to the wishes and needs of victims. Within this legal-empirical, victim-oriented approach, there is little regard for the general normative principles of our present legal system, in which an equal and respectful treatment of each human being as a free and responsible legal subject is a central value. We argue that results of empirical-legal research should not too easily or too quickly be translated into proposals for legal reform, but first become part of a hermeneutical discussion about norms and legal principles, specific to the normative quality of legal science itself.

Essays by Rei Terada, David Clark, Tilottama Rajan, David Collings, Thomas Pfau, Joel Faflak, Richard Sha, Julie Carlson, Mary Favret, Jacques Khalip.

Years ago when I was casting around for a dissertation topic, I chose to focus on shame and guilt, because these emotions were often linked in the literature (and merged and confused); but they did seem like different emotions to me. I... more

Years ago when I was casting around for a dissertation topic, I chose to focus on shame and guilt, because these emotions were often linked in the literature (and merged and confused); but they did seem like different emotions to me. I began studying these emotions by interviewing people. ("Tell me about one time you felt ashamed.") (I've given you a few excerpts from two of these interviews as handouts that you can take with you.) Then I used various methods of qualitative analysis to identify the characteristic markers of shame vs. guilt. Subsequent studies involved statistical analysis and empirical validation of these characteristics (Lindsay-Hartz, 1995). Today, I am going to focus here on the clinical applications of these findings, rather than on the research per se. As I interviewed people, I quickly discovered that shame and guilt were quite different emotions. People did fairly easily talk about guilt. However, when the same people switched to talk about shame, they often had a hard time continuing the interviews. They needed more bathroom breaks. One interviewee told me about moving and giving no one his new address or phone number, in an attempt to hide following his experience of shame. People who had had good eye contact with me suddenly were looking down and avoiding eye contact with me. I thought, "What's going on here?" I began to feel-and see before my eyes-striking differences between these two emotions of shame and guilt-differences that also seemed important in terms of how any therapist or doctor might respond to these emotions in a therapeutic or even a medical context. I am going to summarize some of these differences and move on to explore the whole shame field of emotions, including shame, humiliation, inferiority, and embarrassment. I will also focus on relevant therapeutic interventions for working with patients experiencing these emotions in psychotherapy.

- Dostoïevski par lui-même. - les caractères de Dostoïevski. - La différence entre le roman occidental et le roman russe. - Quelques observations sur le peuple russe. - Difference entre Humilité et humiliation. - Caractères de l'œuvre de... more

- Dostoïevski par lui-même.
- les caractères de Dostoïevski.
- La différence entre le roman occidental et le roman russe.
- Quelques observations sur le peuple russe.
- Difference entre Humilité et humiliation.
- Caractères de l'œuvre de Dostoïevski.
- les sources d'inspiration de Crime et châtiment.

Academic mobbing, bullying, and cyberbullying are pervasive and interconnected harms in academe with scarce conversation and intervention devoted to them. The author discusses what these phenomena are and asserts academia and its... more

Academic mobbing, bullying, and cyberbullying are pervasive and interconnected harms in academe with scarce conversation and intervention devoted to them. The author discusses what these phenomena are and asserts academia and its institutions are incubators of oppression and violence as well as protectors of these abuses. The text illustrates some of the destructive consequences for targets of these attacks, refuting other conceptualizations that downplay the severity of academic mobbing and bullying. The author also contends that understanding of academic mobbing and bullying must be multimodal and extend to cyberspace. The text concludes with how both gross negligence and the illusion of the academy as a just exemplar sustains these harms.

In this dissertation, I ask whether there is anything in Richard Rorty's political thought that can be saved. While I agree that Rorty's work is not what one considers systematic political philosophy, I nonetheless believe that his theory... more

In this dissertation, I ask whether there is anything in Richard Rorty's political thought that can be saved. While I agree that Rorty's work is not what one considers systematic political philosophy, I nonetheless believe that his theory offers important insights to liberal political theory.I explore Rorty's contributions to aspects of liberal political theory. Each chapter can be seen as making an independent argument,but the overarching assertion I pursue in this dissertation is that through a close reading of Rorty's oeuvre, with a focus on his account of the self, one can findinsightful comments on questions of human dignity, humiliation and cosmopolitanism.

This article examines the history of China from 1600-1949. By using a psychohistorical approach to understand the deep humiliation enacted upon the Chinese at the hands of primarily the British and the Japanese, we understand how the... more

This article examines the history of China from 1600-1949. By using a psychohistorical approach to understand the deep humiliation enacted upon the Chinese at the hands of primarily the British and the Japanese, we understand how the Chinese Communist Party was so successful in establishing their Cultural Revolution. As a cultural anthropologist, I examine my time in Suzhou, China in October of 2019, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party and question the Chinese sense of national identity and how they will collectively define themselves going forward.

The article, based on interdisciplinary historiographical and anthropological studies and archival documents, collected folk literature and other documents, will reconstruct the ritual of blood feud with emphasis on the act of humiliation... more

The article, based on interdisciplinary historiographical and anthropological studies and archival documents, collected folk literature and other documents, will reconstruct the ritual of blood feud with emphasis on the act of humiliation and penance as reflected in documents from Southeast Europe, comparing them with many fragments of medieval European cases, reflecting general ritual structure in the field of public affairs: Homage (gift, first approach), Fides (fidelity, oath, truce) and Investiture (appointment), and, in case of dispute settlement, Pace Perpetua – lasting peace (love, marriage), with particular focus on principles of the so called gift-exchange societies. The hypothesis of this article, based on collected material and on outlined cases, is arguing in favour of the principle of the general ritual structure for all public aff airs, in which precisely the gesture of penance and humiliation plays an important symbolic role, especially in the ritual of vindicta, that is in the customary system of conflict resolution.

The aim of this paper is to review school assessment as a teacher-pupil relation from the point of view of the "humiliation" category. I pose questions about the extent to which the humiliation mechanism is present at the contemporary... more

The aim of this paper is to review school assessment as a teacher-pupil relation from the point of view of the "humiliation" category. I pose questions about the extent to which the humiliation mechanism is present at the contemporary Polish school and what the consequences of experiencing "being humiliated" are for students. It is supported with the result of my own research into school assessment, in particular the situation of oral testing and marking pupils' conduct with a grade from the perspective of junior high school students.

In Remnants of Auschwitz, Giorgio Agamben argues that the hidden structure of subjectivity is shame. In shame, I am consigned to something that cannot be assumed, such that the very thing that makes me a subject also forces me to witness... more

In Remnants of Auschwitz, Giorgio Agamben argues that the hidden structure of subjectivity is shame. In shame, I am consigned to something that cannot be assumed, such that the very thing that makes me a subject also forces me to witness my own desubjectification. Agamben’s ontological account of shame is inadequate insofar as it forecloses collective responsibility and collapses the distinction between shame and humiliation. By recontextualizing three of Agamben’s sources – Primo Levi, Robert Antelme and Maurice Blanchot – I develop an alternative account of shame as the structure of intersubjectivity, and of a collective responsibility that is more fundamental than the subject itself. On this basis, I sketch the preliminary outline of a biopolitics of resistance rooted in the ethics of alterity. The intuition driving this approach is that life is never bare, that even in situations of extreme affliction there remains a relation to alterity which provides a starting-point for resistance.

This chapter examines the role of humiliation in experiences of collective victimization. Humiliation is conceptualized as a self-conscious emotion that is distinct from shame, anger, and embarrassment. Humiliation is experienced when... more

This chapter examines the role of humiliation in experiences of collective victimization. Humiliation is conceptualized as a self-conscious emotion that is distinct from shame, anger, and embarrassment. Humiliation is experienced when dehumanizing and devaluing treatment occurs that is appraised as illegitimate. The chapter discusses the paradox in the literature on humiliation, whereby both action (e.g., cycles of violence) and suppression of action (e.g., demobilization of resistance) have been observed as an outcome of humiliation. Drawing on research on the experience of Dalits in the Hindu caste system, a conceptualization of humiliation is presented that is relational, victim centered, and focused on agency and power relations. Humiliation is conceptualized as a claim, which involves both the appraisal of certain acts of victimization as humiliating, and the political act of communicating resentment to the perpetrator. Overall, humiliation can be used to mobilize or demobilize resistance to oppression.

Saving Face Humiliation, Shame, and the Affective Economy of War " I'm talking about having looked over the brink and seen the bottom of the pit and realized the truth of that linchpin of Stoic thought: that the thing that brings down a... more

Saving Face Humiliation, Shame, and the Affective Economy of War " I'm talking about having looked over the brink and seen the bottom of the pit and realized the truth of that linchpin of Stoic thought: that the thing that brings down a man is not pain but shame! " —James B. Stockdale, Courage under Fire

Humility and humiliation have an awkward, often unacknowledged intimacy. Humility may be a queenly, cardinal or monkish virtue, while humiliation points to an affective state at the extreme end of shame. Yet a shared etymology links the... more

Humility and humiliation have an awkward, often unacknowledged intimacy. Humility may be a queenly, cardinal or monkish virtue, while humiliation points to an affective state at the extreme end of shame. Yet a shared etymology links the words to lowliness and, further down, to the earth. As this study suggests, like the terms in question, T. S. Eliot and Samuel Beckett share an imperfect likeness. Between them is a common interest in states of abjection, shame and suffering – and possible responses to such states. Tracing the relation between negative affect, ethics, and aesthetics, Eliot and Beckett’s Low Modernism demonstrates how these two major modernists recuperate the affinity between humility and humiliation – concepts whose definitions have largely been determined by philosophy and theology.

El mal moral se define como un conjunto de acciones intencionales por medio de las cuales se lesiona la dignidad humana y, por tanto, se explica por la negación de derechos. Sin embargo, el mal moral no consiste solo en una negación de... more

El mal moral se define como un conjunto de acciones intencionales por medio de las cuales se lesiona la dignidad humana y, por tanto, se explica por la negación de derechos. Sin embargo, el mal moral no consiste solo en una negación de derechos, sino también en una experiencia que involucra, entre sus estrategias, la humillación: ésta puede entenderse como una experiencia compleja que implica también al cuerpo. Este artículo afirma que la humillación, como práctica social, es una forma socialmente tolerada del mal moral que incita a la deshumanización de otras personas, produciendo sufrimiento moral. Además plantea la necesidad de pensar la dignidad desde el cuerpo y considerar el sufrimiento como un criterio indispensable para resistir ante prácticas deshumanizadoras.

The article tackles two of the main points of Michael Hampe's book "Die Dritte Aufklärung" (The Third Enlightenment): 1. Hampe's version of the classical liberal paradoxon (how much violence is allowed in order to maintain the... more

The article tackles two of the main points of Michael Hampe's book "Die Dritte Aufklärung" (The Third Enlightenment): 1. Hampe's version of the classical liberal paradoxon (how much violence is allowed in order to maintain the non-violence-vote?). 2. Hampe's definition of cruelty and violence and his ideas on how to avoid them. Regarding 1., I counter Hampe's vote for tolerance regarding lifestyles by insisting on the importance of a unified or at least always partially converging reality, that we all inhabit commonly. This allows for a different, though not less rigorous, evaluation of the use of violence against, in Hampe's case, the "enemies of enlightenment". Regarding 2., I argue that cruelty should not be relegated to the realm of physical violence only but include the subtle humiliations that stem from crushing people's ways of attributing existential sense to their lifes, i.e. their sets of interconnected beliefs and desires. Hampe is voting for more rationality and Bildung in order to counter the post-truth-plight. I agree on the need for rational practices but think that the creation of a common imaginary is equally important and that this is possible only if it includes equal opportunities and hence the redistribution of wealth. Where Hampe thinks that we are in need of a Third Enlightenment, I argue that the last Enlightenment has not kept its promise of emancipation because most people's desires for autonomy are still waiting to be backed up by reality.

This essay examines gender, sexuality, and society through the lens of apocryphal sexual acts, specifically the Donkey Punch, the Cleveland Steamer, and the Houdini. Although these acts are so disgusting, degrading, dangerous, or even... more

This essay examines gender, sexuality, and society through the lens of apocryphal sexual acts, specifically the Donkey Punch, the Cleveland Steamer, and the Houdini. Although these acts are so disgusting, degrading, dangerous, or even deadly that they seem to exist in name only, such imagined acts serve a normative function, providing limits on not only sexuality, but also on the kinds of individuals worthy of such acts.

En la discusión filosófica acerca de la justicia, Amartya Sen, pero también, por ejemplo, Garzón Valdés y el mismo Villoro, sostienen que resulta más urgente alejarnos de la injusticia que concentrarnos en "lo justo". En este contexto,... more

En la discusión filosófica acerca de la justicia, Amartya Sen, pero también, por ejemplo, Garzón Valdés y el mismo Villoro, sostienen que resulta más urgente alejarnos de la injusticia que concentrarnos en "lo justo". En este contexto, aquí sostengo que la humillación de la dignidad es precisamente un criterio al que debemos voltear a ver cuando hablamos de lo inaceptable, que es donde se inicia la vía negativa hacia la justicia. Para ello, exploro los argumentos de Luis Villoro, Amartya Sen y Martha Nussbaum. Más adelante clarifico el vínculo entre la humillación y la exclusión, para sugerir que en ciertos contextos, y en específico el de la injusticia, el uso del concepto humillación resulta más útil que el de exclusión.

L’humiliation entre pairs, les atteintes à la dignité, le harcèlement moral et sexuel ont fait l’objet d’analyses sociologiques, psychologiques et même criminologiques. Ces interactions dites « toxiques » et « malsaines » qui remettent en... more

L’humiliation entre pairs, les atteintes à la dignité, le harcèlement moral et sexuel ont fait l’objet d’analyses sociologiques, psychologiques et même criminologiques. Ces interactions dites « toxiques » et « malsaines » qui remettent en question l’honneur et la dignité de l’individu, si elles ont été observables dans les contextes professionnel (voir par exemple Hirigoyen, 2002 ; Leymann, 1993 ; Ravisy, 2000) et scolaire (notamment Saint Martin, 2012 ; Tisseron, 2012), semblent aujourd’hui avoir intégré Internet. Divers termes sont employés dans la littérature pour désigner ces actes : on parle de « cyberharcèlement », de « cyberintimidation » ou encore d’« humiliation numérique ».
Dans ce dossier thématique, il sera essentiellement question de « cyberhumiliation », terme désignant les attaques virtuelles par l’image et de l’image d’une personne sur Internet, attaques ayant pour but de remettre en question la réputation de la victime (Dilmaç, 2017). Privilégier le thème de la « cyberhumiliation » à celui du « cyberharcèlement » (terme plus communément usité dans la littérature scientifique) a pour avantage d’englober toutes les formes de vexation visibles sur la Toile, et non seulement de s’attacher aux agressions caractérisées par leur répétitivité, redondance qui viendrait renforcer l’aspect humiliant de l’acte.
L’argument développé à travers les contributions de ce dossier spécial est qu’il existe une variété de formes d’humiliation sur Internet et que celles-ci, bien que proches, se doivent d’être différenciées pour mieux être appréhendées, et donc combattues…

Introduction: Previous studies have demonstrated that early interpersonal trauma is involved in the development of persecutory ideation. However, the specific influence of past and current social and familial variables has never been... more

Introduction: Previous studies have demonstrated that early interpersonal trauma is involved in the development of persecutory ideation. However, the specific influence of past and current social and familial variables has never been previously explored. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the potential role of current and past interpersonal humiliation events (e.g. to be cruelly criticized, submitted, bullied, insulted, scorned) and a negative family context on the development of persecutory ideation. Methods: Current and past interpersonal humiliation events (Humiliation Inventory), a negative family context (Risky Family Questionnaire) and degree of persecutory ideation (Peters et al. Delusions Inventory) were assessed in a sample of 175 non-clinical participants (range = 18– 62 years, 81% women and 19% men) with the help of an online survey. Results: A pattern of significant correlations emerged, in particular, between persecutory ideation, the past and present interpersonal humiliation, and negative primary family context. Moreover, hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that, among the various variables, past interpersonal humiliation events and a negative family context significantly predicted higher levels of persecutory ideation. Conclusions: For the first time in the literature, this study provides preliminary evidence that past interpersonal humiliation events and a negative family context are related to the development of persecutory ideation. In addition, we showed that past interpersonal humiliation events, but not the fear of current events, have an impact on the development of persecutory ideation. These results suggest that the amelioration of early familial and social contexts may help to prevent the development of persecutory ideation.

The article, on the basis of a comparative and interdisciplinary research of a case study of vengeful murder and acquittal from 1401 in Landar (Slavia Veneta or Slavia friulana), analyses the transformation of the social system of control... more

The article, on the basis of a comparative and interdisciplinary research of a case study of vengeful murder and acquittal from 1401 in Landar (Slavia Veneta or Slavia friulana), analyses the transformation of the social system of control and the exercise of the justice on the turn from the Middle Ages to the Modern period. The case study clearly shows the characteristics of the common practice of dispute resolution system and juridicial trials, that allowed vengeance if the side of the perpetrator was not prepared to negotiate for peace making. Although the present case already shows elements characteristic for judicial proceedings of the Modern period, the judicial process and the judgment itself have been conducted in accordance with customary law. The article also comparatively shows how the legislation changed in the early modern period, with special regard to the events in the Holy Roman Empire and the Venetian Republic. In addition to fiscal and military reorganization, the centralization of justice was of fundamental importance in the efforts of European rulers to establish supreme control over the entire territory under their jurisdiction. In order to achieve this goal, however, the rulers had first to restrict, by means of legislation and other coercive means, the arbitrary conflict resolution system by custom. For this purpose, they established a judicial system, i. e. punitive control over both, individual, influential families and clans, as well as the population in general. The state inquisitorial trial rites, introduced in most Western and Central European countries, in the early modern period lead to an important novelty: the state judicial apparatus has earned the right of prosecution ex officio. While earlier, in the so-called adversarial law, the judicial investigative process may only be led after the lawsuit of the affected communities, in the inquisitorial procedure the judicial trial was initiated by the central judicial authorities, which was the primary reason for their creation. In some more remote areas, such as Montenegro and Albania, which were examined in the article as comparative areas, the custom of conflict resolution system, vendetta or osveta, has preserved deep in the 19th Century. Especially the study of this custom confirms our thesis, that this was not only a European (medieval) custom, but a system of conflict resolution known to all worldwide communities.

There is broad agreement that humans can be wronged independently of their incurring any harm, that is, when their welfare is not affected. Examples include unnoticed infringements of privacy, ridiculing unaware individuals, or... more

There is broad agreement that humans can be wronged independently of their incurring any harm, that is, when their welfare is not affected. Examples include unnoticed infringements of privacy, ridiculing unaware individuals, or disregarding individuals’ autonomous decision-making in their best interest. However, it is less clear whether the same is true of animals—that is, whether moral agents can wrong animals in situations that do not involve any harm to the animals concerned. In order to answer this question, I concentrate on the illustrative case of treating animals in a demeaning yet harmless way that would be disrespectful if humans were concerned. I discuss whether such actions are permissible or unjustifiably discriminatory from a moral point of view. I conclude that moral agents cannot directly wrong animals without harming them and thus do not owe it to a particular animal to refrain from such actions. However, if the actions increase the likelihood that animal abuse will occur, this presents a strong indirect reason against performing them. Thus, the reasons for refraining from such actions are merely indirect rather than direct.

This paper describes the development of a self-report scale to assess the internal experience of humiliation. After defining the construct, an item pool of 149 items was generated, utilizing a five-point Likert scale response format. A... more

This paper describes the development of a self-report scale to assess the internal experience of humiliation. After defining the construct, an item pool of 149 items was generated, utilizing a five-point Likert scale response format. A sample of 253 individuals ages 15 to 51 (M = 20.66) was used to conduct the item trial. The item pool was evaluated through item and factor analyses. Factor analysis identified two correlated factors accounting for 58% of scale variability. The 20 items loading on factor one were labeled the Fear of Humiliation Subscale and the 12 items loading on factor two were labeled the Cumulative Humiliation Subscale. The full scale of 32 items is called the Humiliation Inventory. Reliability analyses indicate that the subscales and the full scale have high internal consistency. Exploratory analyses of mean scores across six demographic groups indicate significant differences