[lit-ideas] Re: Kamikaze versus 9/11 Terrorists
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:25:21 +0900
For what it is worth, a Google search for "Shame versus Guilt
Cultures" produces a list of 220,000 URLs. The concept was popular in
the 1950s and 60s, when it was heavily promoted by anthropologists
associated with studies of "culture and personality." It was used at
one time to distinguish between Northern and Southern European (or,
more broadly, circum-Mediterranean cultures). A quick scan of the
google results mentioned above shows that the concept has been picked
up and also used to distinguish, for example, European and African
cultures. I have heard it applied to Asian cultures as well, e.g., in
comparisons of "the West" and Japan. It is one of those binary
oppositions that lends itself to all sorts of largely invidious
comparisons. In every case, the guilt-laden are supposed to have
interiorized universal values to such an extent that guilt is felt
over even private transgressions. In contrast the shame-driven are
supposed to be unashamed in the absence of public exposure. The
guilt-laden are, thus, supposed to embody a higher morality than their
shame driven counterparts.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220-0006, JAPAN
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