Public Apologia, Moral Transgression and Degradation Ceremonies
Public Apologia, Moral Transgression and Degradation Ceremonies

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses some socio‑psychological aspects of reconciliation with the recent communist past in Eastern Europe using the example of a public apologia of a Romanian public intellectual on his alleged collaboration with the Securitate, the former communist secret police. The paper argues that public apologia for wrongdoing displays a double dynamic of degradation: personal and institutional. It is argued that public apologia serves a two‑fold function: on the one hand, it is an attempt to manage a personal “spoiled” identity and provides the grounds for atonement. On the other hand, it is an attempt to (re)write biography by elucidating the influence of the wider social context relevant to identity transformation. By drawing on sociological work on degradation ceremonies and discourse analysis in social psychology, the paper shows how public apologia can be understood as a social product and discursive accomplishment.

• Details
• Contents