Although shame may be a pan-human feeling and concept, it may be different
in important ways from culture to culture. This paper offers a view of sham
e in Korean families. It is based on intensive qualitative interviews with
a single informant who is also the first author of the paper. The paper out
lines the cultural roots of shame in Korea, the central place of shame in t
he functioning of Korean families, the ways that shame in Korea is not only
individual but familial, the centrality and value given to shame in Korea
culture, the ways parenting in Korea promotes shame, family benefits of sha
me; the entanglement of shame and gender with marriage and sexuality, and t
he etiquette and social dynamics of shame in Korean culture: The paper argu
es that understanding the ways that shame is uniquely defined; experienced,
contextualized, and dealt with in a society is of great value.