Families with a migration background and limited social and cultural capital often experience shame and shaming in unique ways. This article examines the social aspects of these experiences, arguing that shame is not an individual disposition, but rather a feeling of disapproval or rejection from the community whose values are respected and recognized as legitimate. The article distinguishes between invasive and protective forms of social communication. Invasive forms isolate individuals and make it difficult for them to develop a positive self-image. In contrast, protective forms help them regain the social respect they may have lost because of shame. Using a practice-oriented and case-based research design, the article describes and analyses four cases resulting in three different figurations of family shame. Families are understood as figurations that develop and change through both internal (e.g., conflicts, affection, self-constraints) and external (e.g., cultural values, social norms, foreign constraints) factors. Struggles and power differentials within the family and the symbolic power of artistic traditions and beliefs determine what shape a figuration takes and how it can be changed. By anchoring shame experiences in the social space of the family, the concept of dispositional shame is extended by a contextual dimension.

In the marginalized family type, the family often transmits and reinforces the social expectations of the ethnic community, preserving the dominant values and leaving individual members feeling insignificant. In other figurations, the family is seen as both a site of internal status struggles and a protective space that shields members from the alienating gaze of others.

The results of this study are significant in that the participating families are poorly integrated into Danish society and represent different forms of living on the margins of society.