Opening the Black Box Part 1: On Collective Shame in the German Society

This chapter is the first of two chapters on shame in German society. It explores collective shame in the German context, thereby, opening the “black box” of shame which is often left closed and stored in the back of collective and individual minds. The chapter explores shame from different German historic and contemporary collective perspectives and provides the reader with an overview of research and state-of-the-art research and practices on collective shame in the context described. It explores how shame is experienced and developed, (re-)constructed, addressed and transformed at these different societal levels. The chapter presents conclusions and recommendations on how to transform collective shame in different German contexts.