The traditional perception sees that criminals have violated the social order and public peace. Therefore, they must be punished publicly, as the presence of spectators confirms and justifies the judge’s ruling on the one hand, and achieves the authority’s goal of deterring others from repeating the crime on the other hand. This deterrence does not come only from the fear of physical harm due to punishment, but also from the fear of feeling shame and disgrace. Which can only be achieved with witnesses to the humiliation taking place.
But how are societies formed that accept such practices, or even demand them? What political systems allow humiliation, and what systems try to prevent it? Can we say that humiliation is only related to the “Dark Middle Ages” period, or has the “bright,” luminous, and enlightened modernity brought with it new methods of shame of its own and invented new practices of humiliation?
In a stunning analysis of historical and contemporary events, German historian Uta Frevert shows the role that humiliation played in building modern society, and how humiliation and the sense of shame it generates were used as a means of control, from the worlds of politics to school education, and that the art of humiliation is not only a thing of the past, but has evolved to suit... The changes of the twenty-first century, in a world where humiliation is not only from the political forces that control us, but also from our peers.
