Does Shame as an Instrument of Public Policy Work?

I like what are called KISS solutions (Keep It Simple Stupid) but some solutions although they may have worked in the past don’t really work anymore. One such example is shame.

The online Dictionary.com defines Shame as 1. the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another. 2. susceptibility to this feeling: to be without shame. 3. disgrace; ignominy.

And according to Wikipedia “Shame is a negative, painful, social emotion that can be seen as resulting “...from comparison of the self’s action with the self’s standards...”.[1] but which may equally stem from comparison of the self’s state of being with the ideal social context’s standard. Thus, shame may stem from volitional action or simply self-regard; no action by the shamed being is required: simply existing is enough. Both the comparison and standards are enabled by socialization. Though usually considered an emotion, shame may also variously be considered an affect, cognition, state, or condition.”

But what happens when one’s comparison of the self’s actions with the self’s standards doesn’t find any difference? Effectively one doesn’t experience shame. To have a painful feeling arise from something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc....requires that one feel that something is dishonorable.

Shame in other words requires that a society or a group be extremely homogenous and it is the deviation from the homogeneity that in effect becomes the source of shame. In a multi-cultural society using shame as a tool for behavior modification is much harder if not simply impossible primarily because norms and values are not the same across the different groups.

Although we are no longer completely in thrall with the greed is good ethos of the Wall Street era; we are not that far removed from it. The reality is that since to a large extent we self-seggregate into groups of like minded people, trying to use shame as a public policy tool is ultimately useless. Whatever group is trying to shame another group is simply ignored by the other as not much more than noise.

In a multi-cultural society like ours, shame as a public policy tool simply does not work.