Coping with Guilt and Shame After Gambling Loss

In this study we examined the relations between guilt and shame and coping strategies in response to gambling loss. Based on H.B. Lewis’s (Shame & guilt in neurosis. New York: International Universities Press, 1971) account of guilt and shame, we proposed that unlike guilt, the experience of shame involves the attribution of gambling loss to stable and global internal factors (i.e., self-devaluation). We hypothesized that problem gambling severity would be more strongly associated with the intensity of shame than with the intensity of guilt following gambling loss. Further, we hypothesized that the intensity of shame would be positively associated with the use of avoidant coping strategies following gambling loss. Finally, we hypothesized that the intensity of shame would mediate the association between problem gambling severity and the use of avoidant coping. These hypotheses were supported by a retrospective survey of recent gambling losses. Our finding suggests that the experience of shame and the use of avoidant coping strategies to deal with this emotion are central to problem gambling severity.     

Exploring the Concepts of Recognition and Shame for Social Work

Recognition and shame are both concepts that potentially offer social workers a structure to build practice on; two states experienced by both social workers and service users. ‘Recognition’, within social, political and economic thought, has been established as a field in which inequality and exclusion can be analysed. Social work theorists have also made inroads into exploring its reach. ‘Shame’ in twentieth century and contemporary sociological and psychoanalytical accounts, is understood as a force in limiting human agency, well-being and capacity This paper briefly outlines some of the defining ideas in circulation in relation to recognition and shame, and then briefly considers how psychoanalytical and contemporary social structural analysis builds on this, making links to contemporary social work thinking throughout. The paper also specifically considers some of the uses of recognition and shame for thinking about social worker and service user ‘well-being’, and the connections, through both the relational and the socio-political, which inflect social work practice.     

Such a shame—a consideration of shame and shaming mechanisms in families

Shame is a powerful emotion associated with the exposure of any aspect of the self that we wish to keep hidden from others. In its healthy manifestation, shame guards the boundary of the self and promotes a realistic self-appraisal of our capacities and our limitations. However, too much shame results in a sense of the self as fundamentally flawed, and can lead to lifelong problems in living. Shame originates in relationship to others, and most notably by how we are seen as children by our parents. This paper focuses on shame in the family context, the ways shame can be misused in the parent/child relationship and the effects of this on the child. Shame is put forward as an important, but neglected, consideration in child mental health and a core issue in child abuse. The implications for work with children and families are briefly discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion in Gay and Heterosexual Men: How They Relate to Childhood Memories,Shame, and Depressive Symptoms

This study explores differences between men who are gay (n = 53) and men who are heterosexual (n = 52) regarding memories of shame events and of warmth and safeness experiences with parents during childhood and adolescence, self-compassion, psychological flexibility, internal shame, and depression. Also, it aims to explore whether psychological flexibility and self-compassion play a role in the association between these memories and internal shame and depressive symptoms. Results confirmed the mediating role of psychological flexibility and self-compassion. These findings suggest the appropriateness of promoting acceptance and self-compassion towards difficult memories in a therapeutic setting with men who are gay experiencing shame and depressive symptoms.     

Social Worker Shame in Child and Family Social Work: Inadequacy,Failure, and the Struggle to Practise Humanely

Social workers operate within a complex environment where the failure to live up to expectations can lead to negative self-judgements or negative judgements from others, a sense of inadequacy and not feeling ‘good enough’. This paper conceptualises such issues through the lens of ‘social worker shame’ defined through a psychosociocultural understanding of the emotion. The effect of social worker shame on social workers' well-being and practise is considered and begins to conceptualise how an organisation can become shame-sensitive and practitioners shame-resilient with the aim of reducing the potential impact of social worker shame on practise.     

Self-stigma coping and treatment-seeking in problem gambling

Stigma has been explored as a cause of reduced and delayed treatment-seeking for problem gambling, a population in which only 1 in 10 seek treatment. The present study examined the effect of perceived public stigma and self-stigma on affect and behavioural coping efforts. Path analysis was used to examine self-stigma in 155 individuals with gambling problems. The majority of participants met criteria for a gambling disorder (93.5%), were current gamblers (69%) and had never sought treatment (54.2%). The data fit the proposed path model well; self-stigma was associated with reduced self-esteem and increased shame. Shame predicted use of secrecy and withdrawal coping. Endorsement of negative stereotypes of ‘problem gamblers’ was associated with decreased treatment-seeking while greater self-stigma predicted increased treatment-seeking. Additional predictors of increased treatment-seeking included greater gambling problem severity, more positive attitudes towards treatment, male sex and higher income. Self-stigma increased rather than decreased treatment-seeking in this analysis. Efforts to increase treatment-seeking could target women, those with lower income and those with less severe gambling problems.     

Kitsch taste and the consumption of Jackie 'O'

In 1996, Sotheby's in New York held a four‐day auction of many of the possessions Jackie Onassis purchased during her lifetime. This paper is an ethnography of a loose social circle of gay men, some of whom attended the pre‐auction display of these objects and who regularly hold their own informal Jackie ‘O’ celebrations. It looks at what their worshipping of a female figure, Jackie ‘O’, means and how a distinctive cultural capital is espoused by gay men which differentiates them from other Jackie collectors. To this end, the paper also focuses on ‘vocabularies of appreciation’ ( Armstrong, 2001 ), or kitsch consumption among this loose social circle and, in this process, categories of ‘us’ and ‘them’ are performed (see Bourdieu, 1984 ; Miller, 1987 ; Pierce, 1994 ).     

Shame,Internalized Homonegativity,and Religiosity: A Comparison of the Stigmatization Associated with Minority Stress with Gay Men in Australia and Malaysia

ABSTRACT

In this study we explore aspects of minority stress by comparing Malaysian (n = 234) and Australian (n = 123) gay men on internalized homonegativity (IH) and internalized shame (IS) in a 2 × 2 multivariate analysis (country × relationship status). Religious motivation (RM) was also included as a variable because of the importance of religion in Malaysia as compared to Australia. Malaysian gay men scored higher on IH, IS, and RM. Single men reported higher levels of IS than did those in relationships. These results are discussed in terms of the minority stress model (Meyer, 2003).     

Finding the Homosexual in Women’s Rights

In recent years, organizations on the American Christian Right (CR) have become established actors at the United Nations, working to limit international agreement on developments seen as ‘anti-family’, such as women’s rights, population policy and abortion. At the same time, the Vatican has established itself as a strong voice opposing international law and policy on women’s rights. For both actors, women’s rights represent a direct challenge to the ‘natural family’ and hence a particular world vision premised on a sexual division of labour. While women’s rights is a central preoccupation for both actors, ‘homosexuality’ and the prospect of lesbian and gay rights and ‘gay marriage’ is also a recurrent theme, intricately connected to women’s rights. This article explores the relationship between women’s rights and homosexuality as drawn by these two actors. It asks why, in an international arena that offers little concrete recognition of, or protection for, lesbian and gay identities both the CR and Vatican are concerned about a presumed homosexual agenda. It also explores what role the debate about women’s rights plays in facilitating this ‘homosexual agenda’. In addressing these questions, this article seeks to explore, and raise further questions about international women’s rights as a language for international discussion about social relations.     

Shame and the city – ‘looting’, emotions and social structure

The sociology of violence is an emerging field but one in which there remains a tension between structural explanations and phenomenological‐situational ones that focus on the micro conditions of violence. This article proposes an analytical framework for connecting these levels through a critical appropriation of Scheff's theory of the shame‐rage cycle. It argues that while shame is a significant condition for violent action, Scheff does not have a theory of violence in itself but treats the connections between shame‐rage and violence as largely self‐evident. While emotions such as shame have agental properties, as Scheff and others argue, these need to be situated within structural and cultural conditions that are likely to evoke shame. Moreover, to develop Scheff's approach further, violence needs to be understood as being communicative and invoking normative justifications, which mediate the effects of shame‐rage. This analysis is developed with reference to recent instances of collective disorder, especially the English riots in August 2011, which is based on published research and media accounts from participants. The acquisition of consumer goods through ‘looting’ was public performance in spaces where a ‘moral holiday’ permitted a brief revaluation of the social order. Through this example the article shows how an underlying configuration of inequality, exclusion and shame coalesced into events in which the violence was a form of performative communication. This articulated ‘ugly feelings’ that invoked normative justification for participation, at least at the time of the disturbances. The discussion provides an integrated account of structural‐emotional conditions for violence combined with the dynamics of situated actions within particular spaces. It aims to do two things – to provide a framework for analysing the structural and affective bases for violence and to offer a nuanced understanding of ‘violence’ with reference to public disorder.     

Poverty,exclusion and child protection practice: the contribution of ‘the politics of recognition&respect’

The affective dimensions of poverty, including the impact of wider policy discourses and services that ‘other’ and shame people in poverty, are increasingly recognized. In response, Lister [(2013). Power, not Pity: Poverty and Human Rights. Ethics and Social Welfare, 7(2), 109–123] advocates for ‘a politics of recognition&respect’ that centralizes the voices, participation and lived experiences of those who live in poverty. This paper considers how applying Lister’s theory could improve child protection (CP) social work in England, from a human rights and social justice perspective. The paper draws on findings from an ATD Fourth World participatory research project aimed at updating the course content for a pre-existing social worker training module on poverty awareness. The project brings together families with experience of poverty and CP interventions, social work practitioners and academics.     

Gay Men: Negotiating Procreative,Father, and Family Identities

Our qualitative study examines the social psychology of gay men’s experiences with their procreative, father, and family identities. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 19 childless gay men and 20 gay men in the United States who have fathered using diverse means excluding heterosexual intercourse. By focusing on men aged 19 – 55 residing primarily in Florida and New York, our novel analysis illuminates how emerging structural opportunities and shifting constraints shape gay men’s procreative consciousness. Findings reveal that gay men’s procreative consciousness evolves throughout men’s life course, and is profoundly shaped by institutions and ruling relations, such as adoption and fertility agencies, assumptions about gay men, and negotiations with birth mothers, partners, and others.     

Russian Sex Studies in the West: What They Talk about When They Talk about Love

Abstract

The approach to Russian sexuality exemplified by Eliot Borenstein’s recent keynote conference address, ‘Perverting Slavic Studies: A Love Story’ is examined and placed into the overall context of some common myths and clichés that seem to circulate in Russian sex studies outside Russia Each of the three parts of the study addresses a familiar set piece about sexuality in Russian culture and literature: Rozanov as an anti-Semitic sadist, as discussed by Laura Engelstein; Viktor Erofeev as an arch-enemy of academic feminists, as framed in the collection Eros and Pornography in Russian Culture; and finally Borenstein’s broad approach and his ‘Russian pornography as an idea’. In a brief summary, some of the most conspicuous problems of the burgeoning Russian sex studies ‘industry’ in the USA are formulated as it struggles to come to grips with its topic.     

Psychological growth in humanitarian aid personnel: reintegrating with family and community following exposure to war and genocide

There is a paucity of research into the subjective experiences of humanitarian aid personnel exposed to modern global conflicts and disasters in the course of their work. In particular, little is known about how they make sense of any dual threat: (1) witnessing catastrophic and traumatic events perpetrated on those they seek to serve and (2) experiencing personal threat to self. This phenomenological study explores the idiographic interpretation of aid personnel working in complex humanitarian settings including exposure to genocide, and the impact of such exposure on reintegration processes postmission. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). One theme: Complex humanitarian distress and growth overarched five subordinate themes. Four of the subordinate themes highlighted long term psychological distress including shame, moral doubt, betrayal, and narcissistic coping. The fifth theme, Reparation with ‘self’, describes a redefining of self-worth and altruistic identity over time despite earlier perceived moral failure and sense of rejection from organization and important others. Reparation with self, as a positive outcome from traumatic distress and lack of validating support from important others, is discussed in light of current posttraumatic growth literature. Implications for therapists and recruiting organizations are also discussed.     

The Role of Self-Conscious Emotions in the Sexual Health of Gay and Bisexual Men: Psychometric Properties and Theoretical Validation of the Sexual Shame and Pride Scale

Researchers have theorized about the role of sexual shame as a mechanism through which sexual minority stress manifests into mental health difficulties, such as sexual compulsivity for gay and bisexual men (GBM), and about the resilience-promoting effects of sexual pride. However, no validated measures to date have directly tapped into these constructs rather than using proxies for them, such as internalized homonegativity. We developed the Sexual Shame and Pride Scale (SSPS) and conducted a psychometric evaluation of it using a sample of 260 highly sexually active GBM. The scale had the expected structure in factor analysis and showed evidence of internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Correlational analyses demonstrated the convergent validity of sexual shame and sexual pride with relevant constructs. Regression analyses demonstrated the predictive validity of sexual shame in relation to sexual compulsivity, accounting for unique variability even after adjusting for previously demonstrated etiological factors, and the predictive validity of both shame and pride, which interacted to consistently predict four sexual behavior outcomes. Findings suggest the SSPS is a psychometrically valid and reliable measure that may be useful in future empirical work and highlight preliminary evidence for the role of these constructs in the sexual health of GBM.     

"RENDER UNTO CAESAR WHAT IS CAESAR'S":

Previous research on the relationship between religiosity and involvement in illegal behavior overlooks Hirschi and Stark's original concern with religion as a sanctioning system. While Hirschi and Stark proposed that religion affects compliance with the law by promising heaven and threatening damnation, this study suggests that its sanctions are self-imposed shame and socially-imposed embarrassment. Shame and embarrassment are compatible with a rational choice perspective on illegal behavior—they lower the expected utility of crime and, thus, its likelihood. These two threats stem from two conceptually distinct dimensions of religiosity. People strongly self-identified as religious are more likely to feel ashamed if they violate the law; those involved in a social network based on religion are more likely to be embarrassed. An adult sample's responses to a question concerning the likelihood of cheating on income taxes in the future tests these hypotheses. The threat of shame emanating from religious identity salience is a stronger deterrent than that of embarrassment.     

“If You Knew Who I Really Am …”

This paper describes the work of a White lesbian analyst with her White gay male patient who carries a secret feminine self of which he is mortifyingly ashamed. Together they discover this feminine self as the site of childhood gender trauma—for years the patient was violently and persistently bullied for not being a masculine-enough boy. To enable this patient to address his shame and find an internal space to develop an authentic gender identity, analyst and patient must take account of and process the field of the treatment room as it exists within the larger social/political field of Trump’s America, in which the forces of misogyny, homophobia, gender rigidity, and racism combine to collapse any breathable space for this dyad’s multiple “deviant” identities.     

Dams,barriers and beating yourself up: shame in groupwork for addressing sexual offending

ABSTRACT

Shame is a powerful emotional experience embedded in prevailing social and cultural norms. It is the judgement or fear of judgement for who we are rather than what we have done. Braithwaite proposes shame can be re-integrative or stigmatising, where re-integrative shaming condemns the behaviour not the person, to enable their re-entry into society. Shame is relevant to sexual offending and its treatment, yet little research has explored how it is expressed or responded to in treatment programmes. We applied conversation analysis and discourse analysis to examine expressions of shame in 12 video-recorded sessions of a court mandated groupwork programme addressing sexual offending. Both social workers and the other men on the programme distinguished between being a bad person (shame) and being responsible for a bad act (guilt) as a way to empathise with the individual, build motivation, instil hope and leverage optimism towards positive change. We demonstrate that shame constitutes topics, resources and actions drawn on to achieve the programme’s rehabilitative aims, including separating the person from the behaviour, as per re-integrative shaming, demonstrating empathy and congruence, and motivating change. We discuss the paradoxes and dilemmas of shame for practice that addresses sexual offending.     

Death in the wrong place? Emotional geographies of the UK 2001 foot and mouth disease epidemic

In this paper, we draw on the concept of ‘lifescape’ (Somé and McSweeney, ILEIA Newsletter, ETC Leusden, The Netherlands, 1996; Howorth, Rebuilding the Local Landscape, Ashgate, Aldershot, 1999) to capture the spatial, emotional and ethical dimensions of the relationship between landscape, livestock and farming community and to elucidate the heterogeneity of agricultural emotional landscapes. In so doing, we illustrate complex and contradictory spatial, emotional and ethical relations between humans and non-humans. Farm animals may exist simultaneously as ‘friends’ and sources of food, leading to a blurring of socially constructed categories such as ‘livestock’ and ‘pet’ (Holloway, J. Rural Stud. 17 (2001) 293). Livestock as ‘economic machines’ for converting roughage to meat, milk and by-products (Briggs and Briggs, Modern Breeds of Livestock, fourth ed., Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., New York, 1980) represents one strand of these relations; the sight of farmers crying and farm animals being blessed during the 2001 Cumbrian foot and mouth outbreak, yet another. As (Franklin, Anthropology Today 17 (3) (2001) 3) indicates, ‘the farmer weeping beside the blazing pyre of dead sheep is a complex portrait of a breach in the relationships between animals and humans’. By drawing on experiences of the 2001 foot and mouth epidemic, for farmers and the wider rural community in North Cumbria, we try to articulate the ambiguities of this breach.     

Communalization and Homophile Organization Membership:

This paper applies a sociological perspective to homophile organizational membership in the pre- and post-Stonewall gay community, and now, during AIDS. Focus is on comparing early theories of gay community organizational participation with the genesis, nature, and meaning of gay/AIDS volunteerism as a political statement. By emphasizing how the communalization of AIDS empowered gay people, earlier homophobic vocabularies of analysis are replaced with those that recognize gay pride as the source of organizational membership. Today, self-acceptance by gays leads to the willingness to “bear witness” to People with AIDS in voluntary community based initiatives which join the personal and collective interest in a way that confirms a positive homosexual identity. The theory that communalization empowers by undermining homophobia is supported by data taken for a survey of volunteers at Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York.