Examining the Failure to Care: Shaming as a Public Health Strategy During & Beyond the Coronavirus Pandemic
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2021
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
How far should we go to preserve and encourage community health? While some health experts and scholars believe that we are responsible to do as much as possible, others call into question the ethical and practical implications of certain health promotion initiatives. This paper examines the existing discourse around shaming as a tool for health and explores the extent to which institutions and individuals do and should use shaming-based tactics in their interactions with people in need of (health)care. One of its central questions is the role that institutional and interpersonal shaming should play in health promotion. Within situations requiring (health)care, shaming has been used through institutional approaches to the HIV epidemic, substance use, and obesity as well as in interpersonal interactions to address drunk driving and behavior that disrupts coronavirus pandemic protocols. Several influential arguments attempt to justify the use of shaming-based health strategies through ethical debate, including consequentialism, contractualism, and communitarianism. This paper will focus on shaming in public health policy, messaging, and atthe point of care during the 2019-2021 coronavirus pandemic in the United States. I will also consider other historical and contemporary examples of shaming in healthcare. I will be arguing that shaming is neither an ethical nor effective institutional tool for encouraging health and is highly questionable interpersonally, ultimately concluding that it should not be used in any context requiring care. My reasoning is in four main parts: 1) shaming is violent as evidenced by its psychological and physical impacts on itstargets and their communities, 2) shaming violates a human right to dignity, 3) shaming perpetuates hierarchies, and 4) shaming is an ineffective public health tool. By examining shaming in relation to violence, the body, and personhood, this paper opens up a conversation about our ways and obligations to care for one another, prompting a necessary reimagining of (health)care.