Is Prescribing ‘White Shame’ Possible? A Pragmatist-Phenomenological Examination

Some philosophy of race scholars argue that promoting shame and guilt in white people would help end racism. In disagreement, feminist pragmatist Shannon Sullivan argues that “white shame” and “white guilt” are useless, since they lead to self-hate and inaction on the part of white people. In my paper, I apply a pragmatist-phenomenological lens to white shame and agree with Sullivan, but for different reasons. I argue that assuming that white people can feel ashamed simply about being white within our current society is unfounded, and show the significance of this for conversations about white people's role in ending racism.