Can shame become a source of political strength? Faced with injustice growing inequality and
systemic violence we cry out in shame. We feel ashamed of obscene wealth amid wider
deprivation. We feel ashamed of humanity for its ruthless and relentless exploitation of the
earth. We feel ashamed of the racism and sexism that permeate society and our everyday lives.
This difficult emotion is not just sadness or a withdrawal into oneself nor is it a paralysing
sense of inadequacy. As Frédéric Gros argues in A Philosophy of Shame it arises when our
perception of reality rejects passivity and resignation and instead embraces imagination. Shame
thus becomes the expression of an anger that is a powerful transformative force —one that
assumes a radical character. In dialogue with authors such as Primo Levi Annie Ernaux
Virginie Despentes and James Baldwin Gros explores a concept that is still little understood
in its anthropological moral psychological and political depths. Shame is a revolutionary
sentiment because it lies at the foundation of any path of subjective recognition
transformation and struggle.
