Shame in Response to Institutional Failure

Abstract

When an institution morally fails, what is the appropriate emotional reaction for those institution members who are causally uninvolved in bringing about this failure? Our aim in this article is to explain why it may be fitting for such people to feel ashamed about the wrongs perpetrated by the institution. We begin by explaining the main case that we focus on – the Toeslagenaffaire or Dutch Child Benefit Scandal. We then show how standard accounts of the fittingness of shame struggle to explain how it could be fitting for uninvolved members of the Dutch tax authority to feel shame in response to this failure. Next we consider three potential ways to explain this shame. The most plausible, we argue, is the identity explanation, according to which this shame is a response to the fact that the practical identity of workers is partly constituted by their (social, professional) role in the institution. We finish by arguing that this shame is also morally valuable because it can play an important role in reforming the wrongful culture of an institution that has committed an injustice.