#Flygskam: The power of flight shame to govern climate change
The Swedish term flygskam (plane-shame) refers to the shame of flying due to its contribution to climate change. From 2018 onwards, this shame spread widely on social networks (#flygskam) and assembled a social movement challenging air transportation. How was this shame generated, soothed, converted and what were its political consequences? Drawing on a qualitative analysis of the shame narratives shared on Instagram, the article shows how travelers construct and respond to their experience of shame. In line with the scholarship in the sociology of emotions, the article considers shame as an emotion regulated to meet certain social norms concerning the expression of emotions (rules of feeling) which sometimes require emotional work. As a result, environmentally conscious travelers are complying with a new feeling rule of shame of flying, and those who break this rule may be targeted by shame campaigns. To combine the shame prescribed by the feeling rule and the pleasure associated with air travel, some travelers carry out emotional work and relieve their guilt by offsetting their emissions. Shame is also converted into pride in traveling by train and gives rise to a new emotional rule. Ultimately, the article shows how shame articulates the government of individuals and collectives by setting up new norms.