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The Culture of Excess: How America Lost Self-Control and Why We Need to Redefine Success

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When I first started reading this book I was amazed at how many of the unacceptable traits of excess I personally display. Not a very pretty revelation, as you can well imagine. But a very powerful reason to keep reading, which I did.

The cultural narcissism that Author Jay Slosar explains in detail, with accompanying stats, is downright scary. Another exposure is how religion gets caught up in today's Market Place Mania. This is consumer manipulation on a grand scale. Disturbing!

With health-care being on everyone's minds these days, I encourage you to pay very close attention to Chapter 5, HEALTH CARE: Waste, Excess, and Brokers.

As you read The Culture of Excess by Slosar, grab a dictionary, grab a notepad, and keep a bottle of your favorite headache remedy at hand. Not because reading this work is painful, but because the information Slosar dispenses will, I guarantee, make your head hurt as you contemplate the intolerable state of our society, of which you and I are fully a part.

I am a 50 year old returning adult baccalaureate student. Recently, I wrote a essay
on the individual and the out of control, American phenomena of rugged individualism.
The Culture of Excess, came to my attention after exploring the 1970s, Culture of
Narcissism by Christopher Lasch

Dr. Slosar touches on so many concerns I have with society at large while presenting
his material in a strongly voiced, well researched, whip-smart style that is intellectual
without being intimidating and questions our root moral beliefs. Embedded in his scathing
psychological analysis of our institutions, technology and current communal state is a caring
heart. Most critiques just complain and point out problems, Slosar attempts to suggest how we
can change. Sorry folks, it isn't in a pill or elixir; there is work involved. I would put Dr.
Slosar's thoughts in the realm of Erik Fromm.


During the recent "Ah-nold" scandal, I could not help continual reflection on Dr. Slosar's analysis
of the former actor-turned former Governor's political rise, how some would have petitioned to change
laws to elect Arnold as our President, highly doubtful now as his self got the better of himself,
while today others try to disprove our current President's resident status.


Again, I was drawn to Slosar's text upon last week's release of a national customer service survey
disclosing that 64% of consumers polled left a store and 67% had hung up on customer service calls
feeling they were not respected, cared about or found resolution of their problem. In our service
based economy what is shown when there is no customer service?


This is a page turner that will give a clear voice for those who are indignant at the beaten path worn
into our society.

Sadly, this poignant book won't make you friend's at your next dinner party.

When I began to read The Culture of Excess, I was very interested to see how the author was going to handle such a broad reaching and (usually) ill defined topic. What I found was a very well written, thoroughly documented and perceptive offering. While I do not necessarily agree with some of his offerings in this work, I agree with most of them (especially the on on Religion) and I admit that even those I do not conform with my beliefs, were extremely well written, thought out and presented.

I highly recommend this thought provoking work to anyone who is a student of today's society.

J.R. Slosar's book, "The Culture of Excess," provides a penetrating account of the psychological state of our society at this time. The nature and consequences of a culture organized around pure self-interest are described clearly and trenchantly. What is critically important to me about this book is that it identifies perhaps the central organizing principle of the system that is destroying the social, economic, and ecological fabric upon which we depend for our collective survival.

What distinguishes mankind and has made us thrive is not our ability to conquer our environment and each other, but our ability to work together for our common good. The ideology of self-interest that has risen to its current heights over the past two centuries, and especially over the past couple of generations, is taking its toll and this book makes clear exactly how it works.

After reading The Culture Of Excess, we see that our task is to begin to rebuild a culture based upon the virtues that have distinguished the best of mankind from the beginning of time. How can we create a noble society rather than a narcissistic one? What happened to virtue and nobility? These qualities seem quaint now, don't they? Is that the kind of society we want? What do we really want?

"Wake up call" and "Call to Action" are just two of the many wonderful descriptions I have for this most magnificent book. Greed and the sense entitlement that is rampant in our society must change, if we are to return to a healthy society. Jay's book is an absolute must read and share for everyone who care about the future we are leaving for our children and grandchildren. I have a copy for my library, and I am giving away many more to those like-minded friends and associates who are also looking for answers and solutions.

A common thread among those who have written about the culture of the United States is that we have built our country on hard work, the belief that anyone can succeed no matter their education or social background and that this philosophy becomes a key fabric of our beliefs in becoming successful. I for one have believed in those statements and am living proof. I came from a lower middle class economic family with 5 siblings all of which have gone on to become successful. Our work ethic was reinforced by our parents as was their desire for all of us to go on to college. This despite the fact that our dad made it to only to 7th grade and mom high school. The principles that they instilled in my brothers and sisters was based on hard work and the importance of education.
All of my siblings and myself are baby boomers. We are therefore a part of the generation that not only has driven the markets from everthing from Davy Crockett toys and Barbie dolls to HD televisions. Our generation's success in many ways was measured by material assets, to wit larger homes, expensive vacations, the latest sound and video systems. As we became parents we, as previous generations, wished to have our children experience an even higher level of economic and social gain. We created the "soccer mom and helicopter parent syndrome" by wanting to do for our children than allowing them to do for themselves. The end result in Gen X, a generation that is the best educated, best fed, best clothed, most travelled generation in the history of our country. What we also recieved in return was a generation most likely to still be living with their parents without having to acccept the responsiblity of paying their own way. Their generation tends to be the most narcissitic, self centered group in the hisory of the US. Just read their Facebook entries. "going to class, then work, ugh". There are numerous articles and books written to support my premise. BTW, I have a 29 year old and a 22 year old still living with us both college educated both with cars whose gas, upkeep, and insurance my wife and I pay for. Not only that they have their own lap tops and I phones. We are not alone among our circle of baby boom friends and associates.
How did this happen? Jay Slosar is very insightful in his book, "The culture of excess", as to why. A culture of Me has replaced a culture of us that was the basis of the efforts our parents who survived the Depression and fought together in WWII to preserve our culture and country.
In recent years we have seen unprecendented corruption on Wall Street and in the business community both nationally and locally based on me first and who cares about what happens to others. Narcissism has crept into our elected officials who care more about re-election than the addressing of our country's financial future.
Thank you Professor Slosar for establishing the basis for what we face and the long term results if we do not change.

In The Culture of Excess, Slosar writes of a "cultural narcissism" that infects American society. "Today's sense of reality," he writes, "is characterized by immediacy, illusionary expectations, inflated self-concepts, a demand for a perfect image, and loss of privacy and access to our inner world." The drive to succeed, he suggests, brings along with it a disproportionate sense of self-entitlement and leads to the kind of disastrous arrogance we have seen recently in the financial industry. He traces the effects of its toxicity in every warp of our social fabric, from our religious practices and beliefs to our disagreements over health care and immigration policies, from our sports heros and pop idols to our education system, our self-destructive eating habits, our very identities and the way in which we construct them. Everywhere, this collective binge and worship of the self and its needs contributes to a growing ethical decay that threatens to undermine our contemporary culture and, worse, the future of our planet. Hence, as I understand Slosar's argument, the need to recover self-control and come to a healthier understanding of what we really need if we wish to be "successful" human beings.

What's needed, Slosar argues, is a transition from "Generation Me" to "Generation We"--a radical shift from traditional American thinking which has been rooted, since the origins of the country, in the supremacy of the individual.

I appreciate the author's efforts to point us toward some sanity in this world gone mad with self-adulation and self-entitlement, and to suggest ways in which this trend may be reversed. Indeed, must be. He brings to his writing not only the dispassion of a clinical approach to understanding human nature, but also the passion of one who seeks to make a difference. What he has written is not an "easy read"--though it's absolutely readable. It's a serious book, with all the formality of a serious academic study, including a myriad of footnotes. It will take time and patience to follow his carefully reasoned arguments, but time and patience, in this case, will surely be rewarded. His message is a deeply important one for our too often, regrettably adolescent minds!

The analysis that Dr. Slosar provides is both insightful and highly educational. His thorough and penetrating examination of our current narcissistic culture, combined with compelling examples, leaves one aghast at the shameless underpinnings which have led us down this errant path. At the very least, this book should be required reading for every MBA candidate.

In The Culture Of Excess, J.R. Slosar defines how modern culture is based on the personality traits of narcissism and the loss of self-control, and how this emphasis on personal attainment is warping various segments of society. The demand is for everything to be faster, bigger and better. As self-control diminishes, impulsivity increases. We have more and more and are less and less happy.

The author talks about how broad segments of our society are affected by this cultural focus. In a chapter about education Slosar talks about how today's students are not willing to study math and science, leading to a decrease in logical thinking and bad conclusions to decisions made on emotion rather than evidence. Another chapter is devoted to the current health care crisis and legislation. The demeaning of science is discussed and how differing opinions on scientific questions divide the country more and more. The future of media is another topic with a discussion on how the screaming talking heads we are all familiar with impact society. The notable fact of helipcopter parenting and the inability of young adults to break away and find their own identity is another aspect of this trend.

J.R. Slosar is a clinical psychologist and an adjunct assistant professor at Chapman University in California. His training and experience give him the ability to provide examples and to create a structural framework through which the issues of American society can be viewed. His arguments would be stronger, however, if every ill affecting society wasn't laid at the doors of Republicans and conservatives. This book is recommended for those nonfiction readers that are interested in cultural analysis.

When I thought of reviewing THE CULTURE OF EXCESS, my first thought was am I the right person for this book? It only took me a few minutes and pages to realize that I would be fine for this book because I found the book was so much more than what I had expected. Dr. J. R. Slosar for me, most importantly, wrote this book in a way that made it easy to follow and understand. His goal seemed, in some ways, not far off from what I had been trying to do in a classroom as a teacher for the last few years prior to my retirement, and that was to get those young people to understand that their self-indulgence was very harmful to them as well as society as a whole.

With our country in a financial crisis, we see the self-centered life style that has taken over most of our lives to be the cause of most our problems. As Slosar refers to the "Me" generation needing to work toward a "We" generation, he explains how this is at the root of our problems. From the economy being hit so hard to the lifestyles we live, this book addresses how this happened and what needs to be done to change this dangerous path we are on.

Dr. Slosar states, "The changes in development of today's youth are profound as the interaction of economic and social trends have dramatically affected self-control and how we define success." He goes on to talk about how the ideas in this book can stop and change what it is happening and how all of us can learn to make better choices and have more positive results.

I hadn't thought about this excess causing some of the problems discussed in the book. I could see the financial end of it where we as a society have come to want what we want and go about getting it with no regard to cost to ourselves or those around us. This translates to more than just possessions, although they are a huge part. It also has to do with the deadly rise in obesity in our country and when I sat back and thought about it, well, of course that makes sense! I thought about what he was saying about how that also has to do with other social and health issues including drugs, increase in unnecessary cosmetic surgery, and so many other mental health issues. As a teacher, I watched as year after year, students' home and psychological problems got worse and I wondered what was going on to make these children have such problems. The ME society! Think about it! It makes all the sense in the world.

Dr. Slosar understands what is creating this culture of excess and he uses so many excellent examples in real-life situations but also does it with wit and clarity thus making the reader understand and relate to what he is saying. He goes on to include descriptions as well as history that helps the reader to see the reason our society is in the mess we are in. The organization of the book into chapters that deal with first the "Cultural Narcissism" and go on from that explanation into chapters of examples that explain why things are they way they are is very easy to follow. The problems that arise from use of technology in such unhealthy ways are explained in a chapter Slosar titled "Digital Coping: Loss, Reality, and Self-Deception". The fact that he recognized the problems but rather than just write about what they are and how they happened, he also includes how they can be dealt with to give every one who reads the book a glimmer of hope that we can reverse this. His main targets for all these problems come from capitalism being out of control (no kidding!...but we do hate to admit it) to a "consumerism overload" to the forces of technology and media being main causes. The problems of taking risks and being so out of control as we continue to put so much into material things has not led us to contentment and good health. Therefore, he advocates, we must rethink what success really means and how we can get to that place. How we must allow government to be a solution to our problems and allow them to do their job properly especially in that deregulation has certainly not helped. Our health MUST get better and there is so much in this EXCESS that has made us so unhealthy in more than just obesity but also mental disorders. And finally parents MUST take more responsibility in raising their children and set boundaries for their behavior. Children honestly will flourish much better when they have order in their life and set guidelines and rules to go by.

The case studies and examples cited by Dr. Slosar are just more proof of what he has written about when it comes to peer pressure from children all the way up to adults. The pressure to have the "right labels" and "act the right way" lead to more mental problems and financial disasters than ever seen before. It is almost common sense that this has happened when you read this book and stop and look back at what may have happened to you personally and how it effects you and those around you. THE CULTURE OF EXCESS-How America Lost Self-Control and Why We Need to Redefine Success is a thought provoking must-read for those who want a better life and society for themselves and their children and want to be part of a "We" Society at last!