''The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations'' is a 1979 book by the cultural historian

Christopher Lasch Robert Christopher Lasch (June 1, 1932 – February 14, 1994) was an American historian, moralist and social critic who was a history professor at the University of Rochester. He sought to use history to demonstrate what he saw as the pervasiven ...

, in which the author explores the roots and ramifications of what he perceives as the normalizing of pathological

narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

in 20th-century American culture using psychological, cultural, artistic and historical synthesis.''The Culture of Narcissism'' at Barnes & Noble
provides the specific dates January 28 (first) and September 21 (mass-market paperback). Retrieved 2012-03-09. For the mass-market edition published in September of the same year, Lasch won the 1980 US

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in the category Current Interest (paperback)."National Book Awards – 1980"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
There was a "Contemporary" or "Current" award category from 1972 to 1980. From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Award history there were dual awards for hardcover and paperback books in many categories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one, but its first edition was eligible only in the same award year.

Summary

Lasch proposes that since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, post-war America has produced a personality-type consistent with clinical definitions of "pathological narcissism". This pathology is not akin to everyday

, a hedonistic egoism, but with clinical diagnosis of

narcissistic personality disorder Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a life-long pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, a diminished ability or unwillingness to empathize with oth ...

. For Lasch, "pathology represents a heightened version of normality." He locates symptoms of this personality disorder in the radical political movements of the 1960s (such as the

Weather Underground The Weather Underground was a far-left militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, the group was organized as a faction of Students for a Democr ...

), as well as in the spiritual

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

s and movements of the 1970s, from est to

Rolfing Rolfing () is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. Rolfing is marketed with unproven claims of various health benefits. It is based on Rolf's ideas about how the human body's " ...

Reaction

An early response to ''The Culture of Narcissism'' commented that Lasch had identified the outcomes in

American society The society of the United States is based on Western culture, and has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, ...

of the decline of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

over the previous century. The book quickly became a

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, co ...

and a talking point, being further propelled to success after Lasch notably visited

Camp David Camp David is the country retreat for the president of the United States of America. It is located in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont and Emmitsburg, about north-northwest ...

to advise President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

for his "crisis of confidence" speech of 15 July 1979. Later editions include a new afterword, "The Culture of Narcissism Revisited". Author

Louis Menand Louis Menand (; born January 21, 1952) is an American critic, essayist, and professor, best known for his Pulitzer-winning book '' The Metaphysical Club'' (2001), an intellectual and cultural history of late 19th and early 20th century America. ...

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.Menand, 206

Lasch attempted to correct many of these misapprehensions with ''The Minimal Self'' in 1984. Anthony Elliott writes that ''The Culture of Narcissism'' and ''The Minimal Self'' are Lasch's two best-known books.

Some editions

* New York: Norton, 1979. * New York: Warner Books, 1980. * New York: Norton; Revised edition (May 1991).

Notes

References

*Menand, Louis. "American Studies." Farrar, Straus & Giroux: New York, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Culture of Narcissism, The 1979 non-fiction books American non-fiction books Books about the United States Books by Christopher Lasch English-language books National Book Award-winning works Sociology books Works about narcissism W. W. Norton & Company books

Summary

Reaction

Some editions

See also

Notes

References