The Relationship between Action in Public Sphere and Experience of Shame as Social Ethics

Public sphere and social ethics are always among the basic topics of sociology discussions. The main hypothesis of this study is that «action in the public sphere» is an effective factor on increasing the experience of shame as social ethics. For examining the relationship between these two, Hannah Arendt's «Public sphere theory» and Morris Rosenberg's «Reflective evaluation» principles were used. The model considered in this study includes freedom belief, plurality, private self-disclosure and public self-disclosure, which are participated as effective variables (in two forms: directed and indirected) on the experience of shame. Statistical population of this study includes the students of Tehran University at undergraduate, graduate and PhD degrees. 400 of them were selected by quota sampling for responding using proportional size method. The required data were collected using survey and questionnaire methods. The results of statistical analysis showed that student's public self-disclosure, freedom belief, plurality, gender and education degree have significant impacts on the experience of shame as social ethics. Only the significant effect of private self-disclosure was not confirmed statistically.