The Culture of Narcissism

The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations

Cover of the first edition
Author	Christopher Lasch
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Culture of the United States
Published	1979 (W. W. Norton)

The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations is a 1979 book by the cultural historian Christopher Lasch, in which he explores the roots and ramifications of the normalizing of pathological narcissism in 20th century American culture using psychological, cultural, artistic and historical synthesis. For the mass market edition published in September of the same year, Lasch won the 1980 U.S. National Book Award in the category Current Interest (paperback).

Lasch proposes that since World War II, post-war America has produced a personality-type consistent with clinical definitions of "pathological narcissism." This pathology is not akin to everyday narcissism, a hedonistic egoism, but with clinical diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. 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), as well as in the spiritual cults and movements of the 1970s, from est to Rolfing.

An early response to The Culture of Narcissism commented that Lasch had identified the outcomes in American society of the decline of the family over the previous century. The book quickly became a bestseller and a talking point, being further propelled to success after Lasch notably visited Camp David to advise President Carter for his "crisis of confidence" speech of 15 July 1979. Later editions include a new afterword, "The Culture of Narcissism Revisited".