cultural shame
Society's imposed embarrassment
Cultural shame is the feeling of disgrace or inadequacy stemming from one's cultural background, heritage, or ethnic identity.
It often develops when someone internalizes negative attitudes their surrounding society holds toward their group: Growing up, I felt cultural shame about the food my mother packed for lunch.
The term appears frequently in discussions of immigrant families, minority communities, and postcolonial societies where dominant cultures have devalued indigenous practices.
- stigmaMark of dishonor
- tabooCultural or social prohibition
- dishonorLoss of respect
- family honorCollective reputation of relatives
- embarrassmentSelf-conscious unease
disgrace · saving face · silence · quiet suffering · dirty laundry · ancestors · tradition · family · collective · face · honor · generational · assimilation · identity · heritage · belonging · exile · conformity
- immigrant identityimmigrant experience, immigrant identity, dual identity, hybrid identity, hyphenated identity
- cultural psychiatrywindigo, running amok, pining, somatization
cultural shamecultural reclamation
Recovering suppressed group traditions
cultural revival · heritage preservation · heritage celebration · ethnic solidarity · cultural renaissance
cultural shameindividual responsibility
Duty for one's own actions
culture, cultural, culturally, cultured, uncultured, cultures, culturing, multicultural, multiculturalism