"The new narcissist is haunted not by guilt but by anxiety. He seeks not to inflict his own certainties on others but to find a meaning in life. Liberated from the superstitions of the past, he doubts even the fact of his own existence. Superficially relaxed and tolerant, he finds very little use for dogmas of racial and ethnic purity but at the identical time forfeits the safety of group loyalties and regards everyone as a rival for the favors conferred by a paternalistic state. His sexual attitudes are permissive rather than puritanical, even though his emancipation from ancient taboos brings him no sexual peace. Fiercely competitive in his demand for approval and acclaim, he distrusts competition as a result of he associates it unconsciously with an unbridled urge to destroy. Hence he repudiates the competitive ideologies that flourished at an earlier stage of capitalist development and distrusts even their limited expression in sports and games. He extols cooperation and teamwork whereas harboring deeply antisocial impulses. He praises respect for rules and laws in the key belief that they do not apply to himself. Acquisitive in the way that his cravings have no limits, he will not accumulate product and provisions against the long run, in the style of the acquisitive individualist of nineteenth-century political economy, but demands immediate gratification and lives in an exceedingly state of restless, perpetually unhappy desire."
(Christopher Lasch - The Culture of Narcissism: Yankee Life in an age of Diminishing Expectations, 1979)
"A characteristic of our times is that the predominance, even in teams historically selective, of the mass and the vulgar. Thus, in intellectual life, that of its essence needs and presupposes qualification, one can note the progressive triumph of the pseudo-intellectual, unqualified, unqualifiable..."
(Jose Ortega y Gasset - The Revolt of the Lots, 1932)
Will Science be passionate? This query looks to add up the life of Christopher Lasch, erstwhile a historian of culture later transmogrified into an ersatz prophet of doom and consolation, a latter day Jeremiah. Judging by his (prolific and eloquent) output, the solution may be a resounding no.
There is no single Lasch. This chronicler of culture, did therefore mainly by chronicling his inner turmoil, conflicting concepts and ideologies, emotional upheavals, and intellectual vicissitudes. In this sense, of (courageous) self-documentation, Mr. Lasch epitomized Narcissism, was the quintessential Narcissist, the higher positioned to criticize the phenomenon.
Some "scientific" disciplines (e.g., the history of culture and History generally) are closer to art than to the rigorous (a.k.a. "precise" or "natural" or "physical" sciences). Lasch borrowed heavily from different, more established branches of data without paying tribute to the first, strict meaning of ideas and terms. Such was the utilization that he created of "Narcissism".
"Narcissism" may be a relatively well-outlined psychological term. I expound upon it elsewhere ("Malignant self Love - Narcissism Re-Visited"). The Narcissistic Personality Disorder - the acute kind of pathological Narcissism - is that the name given to a cluster of 9 symptoms (see: DSM-four). They embrace: a grandiose Self (illusions of grandeur let alone an inflated, unrealistic sense of the Self), inability to empathize with the Different, the tendency to exploit and manipulate others, idealization of different individuals (in cycles of idealization and devaluation), rage attacks and therefore on. Narcissism, thus, contains a clear clinical definition, etiology and prognosis.
The utilization that Lasch makes of this word has nothing to do with its usage in psychopathology. True, Lasch did his best to sound "medicinal". He spoke of "(national) malaise" and accused the Yank society of lack of self-awareness. But selection of words does not a coherence make.
ANALYTIC SUMMARY OF KIMBALL
Lasch was a member, by conviction, of an imaginary "Pure Left". This turned out to be a code for an odd mixture of Marxism, non secular fundamentalism, populism, Freudian analysis, conservatism and any alternative -ism that Lasch happened to come across. Intellectual consistency wasn't Lasch's robust purpose, however this is excusable, even commendable in the explore for Truth. What's not excusable is the fervour and conviction with which Lasch imbued the advocacy of every of these consecutive and mutually exclusive ideas.
"The Culture of Narcissism - American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations" was revealed within the last year of the sad presidency of Jimmy Carter (1979). The latter endorsed the book publicly (in his famous "national malaise" speech).
The most thesis of the book is that the Americans have created a self-absorbed (though not self aware), greedy and frivolous society which trusted consumerism, demographic studies, opinion polls and Government to understand and to define itself. What is the answer?
Lasch proposed a "come back to basics": self-reliance, the family, nature, the community, and the Protestant work ethic. To those who adhere, he promised an elimination of their feelings of alienation and despair.
The apparent radicalism (the pursuit of social justice and equality) was only that: apparent. The New Left was morally self-indulgent. In an Orwellian manner, liberation became tyranny and transcendence - irresponsibility. The "democratization" of education: "...has neither improved fashionable understanding of modern society, raised the quality of fashionable culture, nor reduced the gap between wealth and poverty, which remains as wide as ever. On the opposite hand, it has contributed to the decline of essential thought and also the erosion of intellectual standards, forcing us to contemplate the likelihood that mass education, as conservatives have argued all along, is intrinsically incompatible with the maintenance of instructional standards".
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Dorish Hill has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Speech Pathology, you can also check out his latest website about:
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