Dagmar Ellerbrock : "When does Violence Start? Insults, Shaming and Invectivity as Emotional Push of Violence"

Prof. Dr. Dagmar Ellerbrock hält am 27.03.2021 im Rahmen der European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC) einen Vortrag zu

"When does Violence Start? Insults, Shaming and Invectivity as Emotional Push of Violence"

Abstract
It all starts from shame. Shame is considered the most social of all feelings. Shame also proved to be the master tool of transformation. Furthermore, shaming can translate into practices of invectivity. The paper shows how invective practices had the capacity to start violence, to change social formations and to heavily influence the transformation of political order in interwar Germany. It is argued that invectivity was used as strategic tool to destabilize the democracy of Weimar and was also crucial for the transformation of political order. By investigating the emotional impact of practices of shaming, the paper sheds new light to the affective pre-conditions and structures of violence.
Including recent research on (neuro)physiological effects of shaming and exclusion it is pointed out that invective practices need to be understood as physical violence. These findings are challenging for the definition of violence. Recognizing the physical implications of emotional degradation and integrating it into historical research is a stimulating as well as a difficult task – the paper provides conceptual ideas as well as empirical evidence to start this pressing discussion