NCJ Number
206764
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 44 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2004 Pages: 350-368
Date Published
May 2004
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Based on studies by Scheff and Retzinger as a framework for understanding transcripts of interviews with racist offenders from Greater Manchester, this article argues that much of the interview data support the claim that unacknowledged shame can be transformed into rage against those who are viewed as the sources of shame.
Abstract
For Scheff (1997), "shame is the master emotion, in that it is an actual part of, or more frequently, is anticipated in virtually all human contact." Scheff considers embarrassment as only one type of shame, with other types including humiliation, "discretion-shame" (shyness, self-consciousness, etc.), and the narrow "vernacular usage," in which shame is an "extreme crisis emotion," that can be called "disgrace shame." Scheff's use of the term covers a range of feelings that arise from viewing oneself negatively "through the eyes of others" or from anticipating such a situation. Shame, in the sense that is important in this discussion, arises from a threat to the social bond. A secure social bond is one in which the parties understand, accept, and respect each other; it produces the emotion of "true" pride or appropriate self-esteem, as opposed to the "false" pride that can result from an attempt to escape from shame, as in an act of violence. Threats to the social bond come either from excessive closeness or "engulfment" or from isolation and separation in which the parties mutually misunderstand or reject each other. The result in either case is alienation and estrangement, accompanied by "unacknowledged shame." The current study by the authors involved taped interviews with racist offenders whose victims were Asian. This article draws on transcripts and notes from 32 interviews that covered 33 subjects to illustrate how the offenders in the sample constructed themselves as the "real" victims in the incidents of violence in which they had been involved; how they expressed a sense of unfairness and grievance when they compared their social position with that of South-Asians; how they contrasted their own weakness and powerlessness with what they perceived as the power, privileges, and success of their victims; and how they spoke of being disparaged and despised by their victims. In addition to the quasi-political resentment of Asians because of their economic success and cultural solidarity, interviewees repeatedly expressed a more existential, visceral unease when in the presence of Asians. Although very few of the interviewees could articulate a racist ideology as elaborate and sophisticated as that developed over centuries of anti-semitism, the language of "taking over," "owning everything," and bringing an "alien" culture into a country not their own is similar to anti-semitic rhetoric intended to appeal to those who feel they are disadvantaged in the competition for jobs, housing, and wealth. 53 references