The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations. By Christopher Lash?
If so, what did you guys think of it? I am 50 pgs in and am already gaining ALOT of useful insights not only into my life but into those around me. Also if you have read it, how could we practically use the knowledge we gained from the book? Enlighten others? How would we go about it or maybe some of you guys have experience doing this?
Lash’s book was first published in 1979. The culture has gotten far more narcissitic since then.
I’ve read it. It would be hard to enlighten others about the ideas within the book unless they are conversed in some psychology. I was refered to read it by someone after reading Freud.
The ideas within the book are pretty much useless unless you know about psychological terms like the ‘absent father’, and ‘inversion of libido to the ego’. I’ve tried to enlighten many plebes of psychological and philosophical insights, but it usually just goes over their head or causes resentment.
Nevertheless, considering it was written in 1979, it could have been written yesterday when we consider how lasch describes narcissism as the ‘religion’ of our zeitgeist. One section I particuarly liked was how Lasch desribes CEOs as the perfect narcissists. But basically the book is a great insight into a world that doesn’t have any ‘objective facts’ holding it together. No objective truth causes people to recede into themselves to find purpose. The most successful human beings, like those in the bussiness world, are those who can perfect narcissism.
Great, someone who read the book! I still haven’t finished the book but so far from what I read, Lasch’s theory of Americans past and present is fascinating and logical.
He believes that Americans back in the day (1600 to about 1800s) were truly ‘individualists’ because these Americans held the belief that they were able to shape their world… they could control and change nature into their own designs…
And now Americans, having ‘conquered’ nature have put an emphasis, a focus on the self. He argues that americans are not so much individualists as Narcissists.
And how the self-awareness movement of the 60’s and 70’s has isolated americans from each other… for example have you guys ever heard of the saying, “You have to love your self before you love others”? Well Lasch states that that is bullshit and that humans need the validation of other humans to be healthy…
I probably did a piss poor job of explaining the book but I think I covered some of his points. Anyone else read the book? And If you haven’t I would suggest you do just because it seems to be so powerful. Check out the reviews of the book, esp. at Amazon. [/i]
I must have overread the part about people were true individualists from 1600-1800. Iam not sure this could be true considering religion still had a hold over people back then.
I read the book a very long time ago but I think I can see how it relates to current problems of Americam exceptionalism and the Bush foreign policy based on the belief that the American liberal democratic model exported to tyrannies is the key to bringing peace and harmony to relations between now beligerent states.
Yes. Narcissism destroys ‘otherness’. If people only ever see themselves in the world, why would they give a sh*t about how anyone else conceives of the world.