Shame is quietly shaping our politics, shifting the public focus from a battle of ideas to a contest of feelings.

When economic security vanishes, and the future becomes hard to imagine, jobs and economic security is not all that people lose.

They lose something more intimate. They lose their pride, dignity and a feeling that they are useful to others.

In the absence of meaningful solutions, or political will, these feelings become inflamed.

We often think of shame as a private emotion, but it can also be incredibly social.

It attaches itself to visible markers like unemployment, addiction or a failed marriage, becoming magnified in the gaze and perceived judgement of others.

You might survive a job loss, get sober, and repair a broken relationship, but the shame can linger long after those struggles are over.

The sensation of having been once expendable settles in quietly, and once settled, it rarely leaves.

For those lower down the social ladder, the punishment for being expendable is harsher, the shame more complete.

Indeed, shame is not distributed evenly, but is instead concentrated in the same locations as disadvantage and inequality.

The further you travel from economic security, the more likely you are to be carrying this feeling. It is not just personal, but it is also communal. Your perceived failings belong not only to yourself, but to your family and your community.

Yet because shame is so hard to speak about openly, it is also easy to exploit.

In recent years, politicians have found fuel not in hope, but in humiliation. As Arlie Russell Hochschild highlights, the political class speak less about policy and more about “deep stories” that tap into emotional truths, explaining the world in terms of betrayal and stolen worth.

These stories provide reassurance that someone is to blame for how you are feeling. The fault is not your own, you have been merely unlucky, the victim of theft.

Pride, dignity and your way of life, have all been stolen.

In the anger that follows, shame is momentarily transformed into strength.

But if shame is not named, or honestly addressed, the feeling fails to disappear and it hardens and festers, further isolating you.

Unless we learn to speak honestly about how our economic and social systems generate and distribute shame, it will continue to shape our communities in corrosive ways.

Shame is more than a feeling, dignity should not be a luxury and pride should not be reserved for the lucky few.