A01=Frederic Gros
Affect theory
Anger
Annie Ernaux
Anti-Racism
Author_Frederic Gros
Category=JHB
Category=JPFF
Category=QDTQ
Class struggle
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Feminism
Incest
James Baldwin
Karl Marx
Marxism
Patriarchy
Philosophy of feelings
Political philosophy
Primo Levi
Racism
Rape
Sense of guilt
Virginie Despentes
Wokeness
Product details
- ISBN 9781804294154
- Weight: 271g
- Dimensions: 140 x 210mm
- Publication Date: 20 May 2025
- Publisher: Verso Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Can shame become a source of political strength? Faced with injustice, growing inequality and systemic violence, we cry out in shame. We feel ashamed of obscene wealth amid wider deprivation. We feel ashamed of humanity for its ruthless and relentless exploitation of the earth. We feel ashamed of the racism and sexism that permeate society and our everyday lives.
This difficult emotion is not just sadness or a withdrawal into oneself, nor is it a paralysing sense of inadequacy. As Frédéric Gros argues in A Philosophy of Shame, it arises when our perception of reality rejects passivity and resignation and instead embraces imagination. Shame thus becomes the expression of an anger that is a powerful, transformative force -one that assumes a radical character.
In dialogue with authors such as Primo Levi, Annie Ernaux, Virginie Despentes and James Baldwin, Gros explores a concept that is still little understood in its anthropological, moral, psychological and political depths. Shame is a revolutionary sentiment because it lies at the foundation of any path of subjective recognition, transformation and struggle.
This difficult emotion is not just sadness or a withdrawal into oneself, nor is it a paralysing sense of inadequacy. As Frédéric Gros argues in A Philosophy of Shame, it arises when our perception of reality rejects passivity and resignation and instead embraces imagination. Shame thus becomes the expression of an anger that is a powerful, transformative force -one that assumes a radical character.
In dialogue with authors such as Primo Levi, Annie Ernaux, Virginie Despentes and James Baldwin, Gros explores a concept that is still little understood in its anthropological, moral, psychological and political depths. Shame is a revolutionary sentiment because it lies at the foundation of any path of subjective recognition, transformation and struggle.
FRÉDÉRIC GROS is Professor of Political Humanities at Sciences Po Paris. He edited Michel Foucault's books in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Gallimard) and his lectures at the Collège de France from 1981 to 1984. He is the author of a number of essays on con-temporary issues, including disobedience, shame and war. He is also the author of the bestselling book A Philosophy of Walking.
