The Culture of Narcissism

The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations is a 1979 work of polemical non-fiction by American historian and social critic Christopher Lasch. The book argues that economic changes in America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century has produced a culture in which the psychological pathology of narcissism has been normalized. He supports this argument with analyses of a wide range of cultural, artistic, and social phenomena in mid-century America, including political movements from feminism to the Weather Underground, and new age movements such as est and Rolfing.

Lasch draws his conception of narcissism from Sigmund Freud, who depicted the narcissist as a tortured being driven by repressed self-hatred. Escaping into a fantasy of an all-powerful self, the narcissist craves others’ approval to authenticate his fantasy. Lasch detected this psychic process underlying what he saw as the dominant traits of twentieth-century popular culture: “the fascination with fame and celebrity, the fear of competition, the inability to suspend disbelief, the shallowness and transitory quality of personal relations, the horror of death.”

With this Freudian approach, Lasch blends a Marxist analysis, starting with the maxim that economic conditions create social and cultural conditions. Given that American economic conditions have changed dramatically since the end of the nineteenth century, Lasch asks, what changes have resulted in American culture? His answer is that economic changes, such as increasing prosperity alongside a scarcity of meaningful jobs, have “devalued the wisdom of the ages and brought all forms of authority (including the authority of experience) into disrepute.” This in turn, according to Lasch, has a destructive, denaturing effect on the psychological character of individuals within the culture.



Although partly Marxist in approach, Lasch’s argument is not leftist. He blames the progressive left for undermining traditional family structures, which for Lasch is another cause of psychological instability in American culture. He criticizes the right’s celebration of market liberalism on similar grounds: it has tended to destabilize or destroy traditional communities which played a key role in the formation of personal character. The culture of business in America he saw as particularly suited to nurturing narcissism, arguing that businesses “put a premium on the manipulation of interpersonal relations, discourage the formation of deep personal attachments and at the same time provide the narcissist with the approval he needs in order to validate his self-esteem.”

Although Lasch is sympathetic to the feminist movement, he takes aim at the mid-century feminist tenet that women should be freed from responsibility for childcare, arguing that women’s returning to work has resulted in a generation of children with attachment-related issues (which, following the mainstream psychiatry of the time, he sees as generative of narcissism). He also criticizes the methods of contemporary feminist activists, on the grounds that “the resentment of men against women, when men still control most of the power and wealth in society yet feel themselves threatened on every hand—intimidated, emasculated—appears deeply irrational, and for that reason not likely to be appeased by changes in feminist tactics designed to reassure men that liberated women threaten no one.”

Some of Lasch’s most scathing rhetoric is reserved for twentieth-century politics. He portrays contemporary politicians as empty, vainglorious posers, determined to preserve an impression of power and competence even at the expense of achieving those things in reality. He accuses President Nixon of devoting “most of his career to the art of impressing an unseen audience with his powers of leadership.” However, for Lasch, the blame lies with voters as much as politicians. He suggests that the political cycle is driven by narcissistic voters determined to identify with a figure as flawless as they believe themselves to be, only to collapse into fury when their choice disappoints them.



Alongside broader social and political trends, Lasch analyses specific areas of American culture, both to evidence his theory and to trace the effects of the problem he diagnoses. In a chapter titled “The Degradation of Sport,” Lasch argues that sportsmen have become “entertainers” seeking nothing more glorified than financial remuneration, working with a team not in a spirit of comradeship but of “antagonistic cooperation.” One of Lasch’s more famous analyses is leveled at the self-help trend, which he sees as the “search for competitive advantage through emotional manipulation.” More broadly, he sees the various trends seeking to promote “personal growth”—from self-help to spiritual movements—as driven by a narcissistic devotion to the self.

Throughout, Lasch deploys a biting, polemical style which has lead many critics to accuse him of hyperbole, especially in statements like: “the prison life of the past looks in our own time like liberation itself.” However, Lasch’s provocative comparisons of past and present also serve to underline a core argument: historian Lasch contends that modern, narcissistic man has no sense of history.

A bestseller in its day, The Culture of Narcissism won the 1980 National Book Award and has become a touchstone for American cultural criticism.