Unlearning Shame by Devon Price Summary

Unlearning Shame explores how to identify and combat Systemic Shame—the socially engineered self-loathing that blames individuals for systemic problems like poverty, oppression, and climate change. Dr. Devon Price introduces expansive recognition as the antidote, providing exercises and resources to rebuild trust in yourself, others, and the future. The book offers a roadmap for healing on personal, interpersonal, and global levels.

Dr. Devon Price is a social psychologist, Clinical Associate Professor at Loyola University Chicago, and bestselling author who focuses on autism, transgender identity, and systemic oppression. Price holds a PhD in Applied Social Psychology and is known for books including Unmasking Autism and Laziness Does Not Exist. As an autistic and transgender person, Price brings lived experience to his academic work and writing.

Unlearning Shame is essential for anyone struggling with self-blame, burnout, or feeling personally responsible for systemic failures. It's particularly valuable for marginalized individuals, activists experiencing despair, people grappling with identity struggles, and those who judge themselves for not meeting impossible societal standards. Anyone seeking to understand how shame blocks community-building and personal growth will benefit from Devon Price's insights.

Unlearning Shame is worth reading if you're ready to reframe how shame controls your morality and self-worth. Unlike typical self-help books focused on becoming "happier" or more authentic, this book provides actually applicable exercises and thought-provoking questions that help readers develop new understandings about their lives. Reviews highlight its practical tools for combating shame on multiple levels, making it recommended reading for sustainable personal growth.

Systemic Shame, as defined by Devon Price in Unlearning Shame, is the socially engineered belief that individuals are solely responsible for circumstances created by broken systems. It tells us poverty is solved through bootstrapping, marginalized people must fix their own oppression, and climate change requires only individual action. This destructive concept causes people to retreat into isolation, judge others harshly, and feel overwhelmed by impossible moral standards.

Expansive recognition is Dr. Devon Price's antidote to Systemic Shame in Unlearning Shame. It means developing awareness of your position within larger social systems and understanding that individual battles are only won when shared collectively. Rather than internalizing blame for systemic failures, expansive recognition helps you see how oppressive structures operate and why community action is necessary for meaningful change.

Unlearning Shame provides a suite of exercises and resources designed to combat Systemic Shame on personal, interpersonal, and global levels. The book includes series of questions and reflection prompts that readers found "actually applicable and useful" enough to annotate extensively. These tools help rebuild trust in yourself and others, moving readers from hopelessness toward sustainable change through actionable steps rather than abstract concepts.

While Laziness Does Not Exist deconstructs productivity culture and argues laziness signals unmet needs or systemic barriers, Unlearning Shame expands this framework to address how shame controls behavior across all life areas. Both Devon Price books challenge self-blame culture, but Unlearning Shame specifically introduces Systemic Shame as a broader concept and offers expansive recognition as the solution. Together, they form a comprehensive critique of individualistic blame.

The main ideas in Unlearning Shame include recognizing that Systemic Shame makes individuals feel responsible for systemic problems, understanding how shame blocks collective action and community support, and learning that judgment toward others mirrors our fear of being judged. Devon Price argues there is no purely ethical consumption under capitalism, so obsessing over individual choices causes paralysis. The book emphasizes rebuilding trust and practicing expansive recognition instead.

Unlearning Shame helps mental health by identifying how societal shame becomes internalized self-hatred that manifests as anxiety, depression, and isolation. Dr. Devon Price explains how Systemic Shame makes people feel their suffering is their own fault rather than recognizing oppressive systems. By learning to reject self-blame culture and practice expansive recognition, readers can reduce emotional anguish, stop harsh self-judgment, and seek the community support necessary for healing.

In Unlearning Shame, Devon Price uses the refrain "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism" to illustrate how Systemic Shame creates impossible moral standards. The book describes how people agonize over small purchasing decisions—like which brand of seltzer to buy—weighing endless environmental and social impacts when truly ethical options don't exist. This paralysis prevents meaningful collective action against actual systemic barriers created by capitalist structures.

Unlearning Shame remains highly relevant in 2025 as economic inequality, climate anxiety, and political polarization intensify feelings of individual helplessness. With doomscrolling culture and constant social media judgment, Dr. Devon Price's framework for recognizing Systemic Shame helps people understand why personal solutions fail for collective problems. The book's emphasis on community action and rejecting hopelessness offers crucial tools for navigating contemporary crises without succumbing to despair.