In an antique city-state, or a modern municipality, shame is the penalty for the violation of ethics--making things more symmetric. Banishment and exile, or, worse, ostracism were severe penalties--people did not move around voluntarily and considered uprooting a horrible calamity. In larger organisms like the mega holy nation-state, with a smaller role for face-to-face encounters, and social roots, shame ceases to fulfill its duty of disciplinarian.