Systemic Humiliation in America

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Power and Humiliation

   • Daniel Rothbart

   Pages 1-16

3. Social Conflicts and the Politics of Emotions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

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   2. Can Systemic Humiliation Be Transformed into Systemic Dignity?

      • Linda M. Hartling, Evelin G. Lindner

      Pages 19-51

   3. Insults as Tools of Systemic Humiliation

      • Karina V. Korostelina

      Pages 53-73

   4. Systemic Humiliation and Practical Politics: Class Thematic Reasoning and the Rise of Donald Trump

      • Solon Simmons

      Pages 75-102

4. Race, Violence and the Road to Justice

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 103-103

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   2. The Civil War at 150 Years: Deep Wounds Yet to Heal

      • Joseph V. Montville

      Pages 105-129

   3. Transforming the Systemic Humiliation of Crime and Justice: Reawakening Black Consciousness

      • Tony Gaskew

      Pages 131-144

   4. Truth-Telling from the Margins: Exploring Black-Led Responses to Police Violence and Systemic Humiliation

      • Arthur Romano, David Ragland

      Pages 145-172

5. Mental Health, Stigma and Dignity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 173-173

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   2. “To Wander Off in Shame”: Deconstructing the Shaming and Shameful Arrest Policies of Urban Police Departments in Their Treatment of Persons with Mental Disabilities

      • Michael L. Perlin, Alison J. Lynch

      Pages 175-193

   3. Systemic Humiliation in Families

      • Connie Dawson

      Pages 195-215

   4. Madness, Violence, and Human Dignity: Transforming Madness for Dignified Existence

      • David Y. F. Ho

      Pages 217-237

6. Back Matter

   Pages 239-246

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This volume explores contemporary social conflict, focusing on a sort of violence that rarely receives coverage in the evening news. This violence occurs when powerful institutions seek to manipulate the thoughts of marginalized people—manufacturing their feelings and fostering a sense of inferiority—for the purpose of disciplinary control. Many American institutions strategically orchestrate this psychic violence through tactics of systemic humiliation. This book reveals how certain counter-measures, based in a commitment to human dignity and respect for every person’s inherent moral worth, can combat this violence. Rothbart and other contributors showcase various examples of this tug-of-war in the US, including the politics of race and class in the 2016 presidential campaign, the dehumanizing treatment of people with mental disabilities, and destructive parenting styles that foster cycles of humiliation and emotional pain. 

• Shame
• degradation
• mortification
• exploitation
• conflict
• self-esteem
• power dynamics
• social forces
• systemic humiliation
• disgrace
• inferiority
• marginalization
• criminal justice system
• mental health
• social psychology

• School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA

  Daniel Rothbart

Daniel Rothbart is Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, USA. In addition to serving as Co-Director of the Program for the Prevention of Mass Violence, he chairs the Sudan Task Group, an organization that seeks to build long-term peace in Sudan, Africa.

Policies and ethics