The Culture of Narcissism.Critical Book Review Essay

Critical book review: Christopher Lasch (1991) The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Expectations The culture of narcissism was widely recognised as a socio-cultural critique of American society when published in 1979. Written by Christopher Lasch, the book analyzes a social phenomenon identified by Christopher Lasch as ‘cultural narcissism’, a process by which certain attributes of the pathological branch of narcissism (Bocock, 2002) become societal characteristics (Lasch, 1991). This review will be analyzing the relevance of the book within wider sociological debate. I will argue that although the book identifies a recognisable social trend it fails to deomonstrate a specific cause or reason for that trend. The†¦show more content†¦According to Lasch we have become a society of consumers rather than producers. Marx (1844) saw humanity as creative, purposive labourers or producers, where only the private ownership of the means of production prevented humanity from producing for need rather than for the profit of the capitalist, This modus operandi means t hat late capitalism has actually robbed us of the purpose of humanity as a species. However, Lasch identified that because production of many of the goods enjoyed by western society are now produced overseas, people conceive of themselves far more as consumers rather than as producers. By taking away our capacity to produce the goods that we consume, capitalism has removed the essence of human life for Marx and left us with nothing but an ache to constantly and remorselessly consume. This only leaves us with a distinct sense of dissatisfaction and a fear of not leaving any worthy evidence of our existence (Lasch). The fear of ‘no exist’ as Lasch puts it, is a deep void that the narcissist constantly and unsuccessfully tries to fill. This fear inspired by a narcissistic culture has similarities with Ulrich Beck’s theory of modernity. Beck argues that we live in society where risk is prevalent. Most of these risks are manmade and a result of technological development, and the environmental