Customer Reviews

Culture of Narcissism

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found this book very throught-provoking, in the boldness and bleakness of its basic thesis (that narcissism is really about fear [and is not simply about vanity]; and that America is a culture that suffers from [and promotes] fear [of nothingness, of "no exit"]). Due to this narcissistic fear, Lasch believes that Americans lack a purpose, an "end-point," and that this anomie, coupled with gross cultural overloads (the failure of the family, the intrusion of the state into the family, the substitution of state paternalism for individual self-initiative, the erosion of authority, the "therapeutic culture," and so forth) gives rise to "the spectacle" designed to distract America from the fear of being nothing and its inner rage (whew! that was a sentence!).

It takes some effort to grasp Lasch's thesis, and I found some of the commentary dated (as one might expect from a book published in 1979), but the writing is very polished and thoughtfully provocative.

All of the "problems" I encountered with the book were those of trying to understand, think through, "test" and consider Lasch's ideas--which, to me, are all marks a good book. I can find fault with specifics in Lasch's ideas, but overall, this was a persuasive, interesting, and compelling union of cultural and individual analysis, centered on the psychoanalytic concept of narcissism and America's unique history. Specific topics included: (a) "making it" in America; (b) pseudo self-awareness and the spectacle of politics and celebrity; (c) the degradation of sport; (d) the commoditization of education and its focus on "life adjustment;" (e) socialization of reproduction and the collapse of authority; (f) the flight from ("true") feeling embodied in a culture of promiscuity and sexual warfare (perhaps his least balanced chapter); (g) the "planned obsolescence" of older persons; and (h) the link between our bureaucratic culture and narcissistic dependence on it.

The overall tone of the book reminded me of Joan Didion's novels and Yates' poem Slouching Toward Bethlehem--fear and anxiety about nothing within, nothing without, simply our neediness. Lasch's book also reminded me of another psychoanalytically informed cultural critique from the 1950s, Norman Brown's Love's Body.

While I have always felt that Lasch, in general, relied too heavily on Freudian theory in his arguments (which is a shame, given his outstanding knowledge of both history and sociology), the specific portrait he draws of the modern american personality is both accurate and damning - this is Freud that works! There should be a new popularity for this several-years-old book since it is, however unintentionally, the psycho-biography of William Jefferson Clinton. If you ever wondered why the most powerful man on earth risked all to dally with a 21 year-old intern or what made a former peacenik into the Bomber of the Balkans, you must read this book. The real answers are there. Additionally, the late Prof. Lasch was an excellent stylist... if only other academics wrote half as well.

Lasch has touched a very sensistive social nerve in his book "The Culture Of Narcissism." He gives the reader the awareness of living in a society that has become increasingly self-absorbed, out of touch with its past and future, and totally focused on the moment where everyone is seeking decadence and immediate self-gratification. I strongly believe that the narcissism in our culture is the direct result of the combination of consumerism and individualism that are both advocated for by the corporate elite and the politicians. The end result is profits !!! Lasch's book is a powerful and accurate portrayal of an ailing society heading toward disaster....
I would highly recommend this book for every American that is interested in comprehending himself and his society. It will surely provide the reader with an educational experience and an electrifying reading!

Some critics called this book overheated, but I do not believe that Lasch's style was faulty. His arguments ring true and are very persuasive. His insights into American culture are impressive, and he demonstrated sound knowledge of all the social sciences. The book is extremely well-written, never redundant, and always entertaining. This is a definitive indictment of American society, and is still valid twenty years later.

I think the death of Christopher Lasch was a loss for everyone in America as his was a voice of lucidity on topics which conceptually were beyond the range of our media's comprehension. This is Lasch's most famous book and one can certainly see why it would be given the profundity of the title. It's applicability to our culture is even greater in 2005 than it was in 1979. The text is a lengthy indict of our shallow, consumerist culture which places conformity as one of its paramount values. Perhaps only to Lasch was the transcendence of a therapeutic America evident back in the seventies given that this term has only reached widespread use over the course of the last few years. It's interesting to wonder what he would make of today's talk shows emitting their sap through our air waves along with current popular cliches like "I have to love myself before I can love someone else." After finishing the book, I could not help but wonder about the effect this release had on the political left as his indicts of liberalism are incredibly accurate and persuasive. Although, it was his criticisms of radicalism which will most stir the conservative heart. This one should be read, reread, and read again.

The ideal book of cultural criticism would accomplish three things: (1) Show us convincingly that there is a problem. (2) Diagnose the causes of the problem. (3) Recommend a credible cure for the problem. Lasch is excellent at the first goal, examining many areas of American culture in detail and showing the narcissistic common denominator of many social ills. His diagnosis of the problem, couched entirely in Freudian perspectives, is suspect in my opinion (details to follow). He does not attempt to prescribe any cures. Charitably, we could say that the book is large enough as it is and he had no room for prescription. I would give the book about 4-5 stars on achieving the first goal, about 2 stars on the second goal, none on the third goal.

The first major problem with Lasch's diagnosis of the causes of our narcissism is that he makes it sound inevitable, implying (intentionally or not) that there is no cure. The trends of industrialization, growth in size of society and government, etc. are often described in terms that cause you to despair that we could ever reverse the negative effects. Even the trends that were consciously directed by the intellectual elite (e.g. feminism, sexual liberation) are described fatalistically; you cannot turn back the clock, the old ways are too abhorrent to want to restore them, etc.

The second major diagnosis problem is that Lasch does not perceive the irony (or hypocrisy) of condemning the ill effects of the modern therapeutic culture, brought about by all the social science pseudo-experts that he rips apart, while being totally absorbed in the language and perspective of Freudianism. The therapeutic culture came about because an older religious culture gave way to a secular psychological perspective from the late 19th century through the 20th century. I doubt that the cure is to be found if we continue to immerse ourselves in secular psychological thinking.

The third major diagnosis problem is that there is a more fundamental diagnosis of how we came to be so narcissistic. Rather than blaming a variety of economic, political, and social trends that cannot be reversed, the deficiency of modern Western societies lies in the loss of transcendence. With a lack of conviction in the eternal importance of each life, each aspect of life is hollowed out. Marriage was about propagating one's faith, race, ethnicity, and family line; now, it is about chasing romantic happiness. Work was performed to support one's family and perpetuate the civilization; now it is to make money for any purpose whatsoever, from supporting your family to enabling your consumerism. Numerous examples could be given. If there is no transcendence, no connection to the eternal, I am left with ME and my SELF and my desires. Narcissism is inevitable.

Lasch is a modern liberal who tears apart our culture because of the effects of liberal modernity, but who cannot bring himself to recommend the cures that are needed because the implication of his criticisms is that we must reject the modern, secular, anti-traditional, anti-transcendent culture and turn back the clock (horrors!) to earlier ways of living and thinking. After each criticism of how feminism has destroyed relations between the sexes, for example, he hastens to add that the old ways were certainly oppressive and terrible as well. In which case, what is left for the reader besides despair?

The book is worth reading for its description of the symptoms of our ills. Many observations provide insight into aspects of modern life that we might not realize differ so greatly from not so long ago (e.g. education, sports), depending on what you have read in these areas before this book. Be forewarned that when you finish, you will be full of criticism of our culture and will have been given little idea of where to go from there.

The trick to writing social criticism is to focus on patterns that run deeper than the exterior of a society, so that its tenets cannot be tossed aside after a few years of discussion. Find the core composition, not the trends. Christopher Lasch was able to do this with "The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations." He struck a cultural nerve at enough depth that the book is commonly referenced some twenty five years later.

Originally written in 1978, and clearly in response to the tumultuous 1960s and its aftermath, the book explores the clinical definition of narcissism and applies it to the world around him. At times his tone is pessimistic; at others, ironic. He often references directly the era in which it was written. But overall, his observations of various aspects of American culture - parenting, obsession with celebrity, consumerism, ageism, moral permissiveness - enable him to make direct connections to the symptoms of the individual narcissist. Lasch' lasting success is demonstrated in how these observations resonate into the 21st Century.

Certainly one can argue that applying such a broad interpretation of narcissism to the troubles of American culture makes for an easy diagnosis - just as anyone raising a child might become convinced they are suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It also may be suggested that his secret to success is in the subject itself; it positions him to speak directly to the narcissist in all of us (and the narcissist loves such acknowledgment, particularly from a bestselling author). Keep in mind that this is not a manifesto; it is pop-sociology at its best. As such, it is an important work that is engaging, entertaining and comprehensive, if not a testimony to the idea that narcissism is the collective malady of our time.

This book was very influential in the writing of my own novel, "The Autobiography of a Narcissist."

For those interested, there is a longer version of this review of "The Culture of Narcissism at http://autobiography-of-a-narcissist.blogspot.com/

In this book Lasch defines a cultural reality and reveals a concept the Western world is living with, and to a degree suffering from today ' cultural narcissism'. Lasch saw that the whole culture built around ' self - centeredness' is less than healthy. He saw that the focusing of ' the me generation'on themselves led to a more fragile and broken America. Those willing to put themselves first and nothing else second were the same people who broke marriages easily, readily used friends and discarded them.
Individualism carried to extreme and self- indulgence upon which no limit is placed are the heart of the culture of narcissim that we are in some sense still living with today.

In his 1990 afterword to The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch explains his purposes in his original book. The common cliché is that the 60's are the decade of social consciousness and cultural revolution, the 70's the decade of me-ism and political apathy. The Culture of Narcissism was thus seen as a 1970's jeremiad against a culture of self-regarding selfishness.

Not so. The book grew out of an earlier study of the family (Haven in a Heartless World) and is concerned with far larger cultural patterns than the transient decade-by-decade changes of the late 20th century. Lasch is concerned with the bureaucratization of both business and life, the surrendering of parental authority to `professionals' who are anxious to justify their existence and reap the benefits of a general cultural and personal dependency. We emerge from the womb too early, our primal feelings being those of loss (of our previous blissful state) and the painful realization of our utter dependency. This leads to both systems of thought and political/cultural programs designed to capitalize on those psychological realities. Rather than come to terms with our limitations and constraints we strive to regain our bliss by indulging our dependency and many stand by to help us with that doomed quest.

From that point, Lasch explores multiple aspects of our society, from higher education to sport to paternalism in its many forms, to sex, politics and popular culture. The result is a masterpiece of cultural history and analysis. In the course of the book Lasch is forced to struggle with multiple difficulties. First, cultural history is endlessly complicated and does not yield answers easily. We know that something has happened (SAT scores have gone down despite increased investments in education; western history is no longer required in colleges and universities; sexual hookups are more common, committed relationships more difficult, etc.) but to find precise causes for these realities (if and when they can be identified as realities) is very difficult. Second, human behavior results from human psychology, but `human psychology' is something very much in dispute. Lasch's primary allegiance is to Freud and to many Freud is no longer a psychiatrist but rather a philosopher or poet. Finally, human cultural history subsumes all history. Those who would explicate it must do so with an awareness of human history, science, behavior, art, economics and so on. This is not a task for the weak of heart.

The bottom line is that Lasch comes as close as anyone to facing these difficulties and still succeeding in the writing of a significant, persuasive book. Indeed, The Culture of Narcissism is one of the monuments of 20th century social science/cultural history. The book is so rich as to defy easy summary. Two things stand out in particular from the perspective of 2011: a) so much of what he says applies today with equal or greater force; and b) it would be fascinating to see the book rewritten in light of the insights of evolutionary psychology. The humanities have been notably resistant to the neo-Darwinism that marks so much of contemporary social science, a neo-Darwinism that works hand in hand with studies of the human brain enhanced by contemporary instrumentation. My own view is that this work would markedly reinforce Lasch's argument, the resistance to that work indicating the ideology of the vested interests which encourage narcissism as the source of their livelihood.

Bottom line: this is a monument in the social sciences. The original publication date--1979--should not deter contemporary readers, who will find its erudition, insight and wisdom a healthy antidote to a culture of therapy that ultimately fails to cure what ails us.

The title of this review is the theme music of our times. Even though it was written more than 20 some odd years ago it's content still rings just as true today as it did in its first year. As a student of psychoanalytic social-work I find the "Culture of Narcissism" to be one of the most relevent works of our age. It clarifies the nature of so much of what is a part of our social and psychological dysfuction.