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The Shame Machine

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The Shame Machine

Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation

Crown,

15 min read
6 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Shame has become an essential tool for businesses, media, and politicians.

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Bestselling author Cathy O’Neil begins her searing indictment of modern shame culture by introducing the “Shame Clowns.” They may sound scary, but the clowns – part of a Hopi ceremony that aims to bring errant tribe members back into the group – demonstrate how shame can be a positive tool for individuals and a community. The Hopi ceremony stands in stark contrast to today’s cold, isolating variety of shaming, in which every cellphone video is grist for a global digital shaming mill. Humanity has always used shame to regulate behavior, but O’Neil convincingly argues that shaming metastasized with the advent of digital media. In this riveting account, O’Neil examines the role of shame in social media, marketing, and social policy.

Summary

Shame is one of humanity’s oldest, most powerful survival tools.

Since prehistoric times, communities have used shame to enforce a group’s cultural norms and to discourage behavior – such as an individual hoarding food – that may harm the group. Even temporary ostracism terrifies human beings, and shame separates a person from his or her group. The anguish serves as a warning – if you don’t change your behavior, you will lose your place in the community.

In its beneficial aspect, shame shows transgressors that they’re harming their group and opens a path to redemption, as illustrated by a shaming ritual practiced by the Native American Hopi tribe. During this ceremony, some tribe members playing the role of “shame clowns” dress in outlandish costumes and shame the actions of those who have flouted tribal rules or customs.

The clowns shame the behavior, not the person, and show him or her how to win the tribe’s forgiveness.

Marketers love to evoke shame.

Many businesses make huge profits by targeting people’s insecurities. The more personal and intimate these insecurities, the less effort marketers have to put forth to trigger painful shame. This...

About the Author

Cathy O’Neil is the CEO of ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing firm, and the author of Weapons of Math Destruction, which won the Euler Book Prize.

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