Customer Reviews

Egotopia: Narcissism and the New American Landscape

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Miller's Egotopia presents an iconoclastic, highly critical view of modern America. Miller's central thesis is that the suppression of the public individual in favor of the private individual has had drastic consequences on our culture and environment; while Miller's focus is on aesthetics, his argument can be modified to bear on discussions of the environment and ethics as well. To blame for the rise of the private individual, Miller argues, are psychotherapy and neoclassical economics. The former is problematic in that it encourages individuals to satisfy primarily, if not only, their own egos. The latter replaces aesthetic, ethic, and cultural values with strictly economic value. The result of combining these two forces: the New American is taught to increase utility and profit at the expense of beauty, right, and goodness. All forms of value are replaced with economics; and, further, economic value is personal and subjective. The private individual is heralded as the measure of all things, and as a consequence society and culture decline. As a general warning, this book should probably not be read by economists, advertising agents, or "outdoor advertisers". For the rest of us, however, it serves as both an enlightening expose of the true American culture and a call to arms.

This is a bold and powerful look at American life outside of political cliches like "evil corporations" and "evil Hollywood," thrown around by PBS / Naderites and conservatives respectively. Even though I am what Miller would consider a conservative, I could very much appreciate his book. It is a diagnosis like no other; it is coming straight from the heart of the beast -- a PR executive who realized the fine line between reality and fiction, advertising / entertainment and real life, and saw how it became uncoscionably blurred in post-Industrial America. I recommend Miller's inter-disciplinary (everything from economic sociology to art theory) book to anyone seeking an irreverent perspective on what at first glance seems to be a wornout subject. Prepare to be shocked!