 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Christopher Lasch |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Culture of the United States |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton |
Publication date | 1979 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations (1979), byChristopher Lasch, is a psychological and cultural, artistic and historical synthesis that explores the roots and ramifications of the normalization of pathologicalnarcissism in 20th-century American culture.[1] For themass-market edition published in September of the same year,[1] Lasch won the 1980 USNational Book Award in thecategory Current Interest (paperback).[2][a]
Lasch proposes that sinceWorld War II, America has produced apersonality-type consistent with clinical definitions of "pathological narcissism". This pathology is not akin to everydaynarcissism, a hedonistic egoism, but with clinical diagnosis ofnarcissistic personality disorder. For Lasch, "pathology represents a heightened version of normality."[3] He locates symptoms of this personality disorder in the radical political movements of the 1960s (such as theWeather Underground), as well as in thespiritualcults and movements of the 1970s, fromest toRolfing.
An early response toThe Culture of Narcissism commented that Lasch had identified the outcomes inAmerican society of the decline of the family over the previous century. The book quickly became a bestseller and a talking point, being further propelled to success after Lasch notably visitedCamp David to advise PresidentJimmy Carter for his "crisis of confidence" speech of July 15, 1979. Later editions include a new afterword, "The Culture of Narcissism Revisited".[4]
AuthorLouis Menand argues that the book has been commonly misused by liberals and conservatives alike, who cited it for their own ideological agendas. Menand wrote:
Lasch was not saying that things were better in the 1950s, as conservatives offended by countercultural permissiveness probably took him to be saying. He was not saying that things were better in the 1960s, as former activists disgusted by the 'me-ism' of the seventies are likely to have imagined. He was diagnosing a condition that he believed had originated in the nineteenth century.[5]
Lasch attempted to correct many of these misapprehensions withThe Minimal Self in 1984.
Anthony Elliott writes thatThe Culture of Narcissism andThe Minimal Self are Lasch's two best-known books.[6]