The Co-construction of Shame in the Context of Poverty: Beyond a Threat to the Social Bond

an article by Elaine Chase and Robert Walker (University of Oxford, UK( published in Sociology Volume 47 Number 4 (August 2013)

Abstract

Scheff (2000, 2003) has argued that shame, while recognised as a social emotion, is frequently explored outside of the social matrix and with limited reference to its role in human behaviour.

Drawing on empirical qualitative research with adults living in poverty in the UK, this article illuminates
a) how the co-construction of shame (feeling shame and being shamed) is fundamental in framing how people living in poverty respond to the social demands on them; and
b) how shame as a phenomenon may also take on a dynamic of its own, ultimately used by those feeling shame to distance themselves from the socially constructed and denigrated ‘Other’ (Lister, 2004).

The article shifts the analysis beyond shame arising from a threat to the immediate ‘social bond’ (Lewis, 1971), instead presenting it as a social fact which not only undermines human dignity but risks the atomisation of modern society.

---

Dissenters, Managers, and Coworkers: The Process of Co-Constructing Organizational Dissent and Dissent Effectiveness

an article by Johny T. Garner (Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, USA) published in Management Communication Quarterly Volume 27 Number 3 (August 2013)

Abstract

Previous research on organisational dissent has explored a number of issues, but that research has been overly focused on the dissenter while neglecting the active role of others in co-constructing dissent.

That line of scholarship has also tended to examine dissent expressions in isolation rather than exploring how previous experiences shape present expectations.

This essay redefines dissent to situate interaction centrally and to focus on dissent interactions over time as a process rather than a one-time event. The success or failure of dissent is conceptualised as part of that process. Such a perspective reveals nuances by including the stories and discourses that are told as part of and in addition to an initial dissent conversation.

A case study demonstrates how this reconceptualisation of dissent recognises the primary importance of interaction in constituting organisations and advances process theory by explicating the value such a perspective adds to this context.

---