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When The Culture of Narcissism was first published, it was clear that Christopher Lasch had identified something important: what was happening to American society in the wake of the decline of the family over the last century.
The book quickly became a bestseller. This edition includes a new afterword, "The Culture of Narcissism Revisited."
- Sales Rank: #74228 in eBooks
- Published on: 1991-05-17
- Released on: 2013-08-05
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
“Formidable intellectual grasp and the kind of moral conviction rarely found in contemporary, value-neutral history and sociology. . . . Lasch is on to something quite real.” (Time)
“His vigorous appraisal of contemporary American life is to be admired as much for the perspicacity of his observations as for the contancy of this argument and the scope of his supporting references. . . . Few write with his penetration, intelligence, and historical expertise.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Christopher Lasch has gone to the heart of our culture. The insights into personality and its social context are stunning. This is a courageous, important book.” (Michael Rogin, University of California, Berkeley)
“Cultural history at its best. . . . Provokes, startles, and keeps the reader arguing with himself as well as with the writer. . . . A book of fundamental importance.” (Bruce Mazlish, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
About the Author
Christopher Lasch (1932–1994) was also the author of The True and Only Heaven, The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy, and other books.
Most helpful customer reviews
194 of 204 people found the following review helpful.
A well-written, literate, persuasive cultural analysis...
By Stephen Armstrong
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.
61 of 62 people found the following review helpful.
A Monument in the Social Sciences
By Richard B. Schwartz
In his 1990 afterword to The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch explains his purposes in his original book. The common clich� 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.
72 of 81 people found the following review helpful.
A book for which there should be renewed interest
By Kate
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.
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