The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement
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Narcissism—an inflated view of the self—is everywhere. Public figures say it’s what makes them stray from their wives. Parents teach it by dressing children in T-shirts that say "Princess." Teenagers and young adults hone it on Facebook, and celebrity newsmakers have elevated it to an art form. And it’s what’s making people depressed, lonely, and buried under piles of debt. Jean Twenge’s influential first book, Generation Me, spurred a national debate with its depiction of the challenges twenty- and thirty-somethings face in today’s world—and the fallout these issues create for educators and employers. Now, Dr. Twenge turns her focus to the pernicious spread of narcissism in today’s culture, which has repercussions for every age group and class. Dr. Twenge joins forces with W. Keith Campbell, Ph.D., a nationally recognized expert on narcissism, to explore this new plague in The Narcissism Epidemic, their eye-opening exposition of the alarming rise of narcissism and its catastrophic effects at every level of society. Even the world economy has been damaged by risky, unrealistic overconfidence. Drawing on their own extensive research as well as decades of other experts’ studies, Drs. Twenge and Campbell show us how to identify narcissism, minimize the forces that sustain and transmit it, and treat it or manage it where we find it. Filled with arresting, alarming, and even amusing stories of vanity gone off the tracks (would you like to hire your own personal paparazzi?), The Narcissism Epidemic is at once a riveting window into the consequences of narcissism, a prescription to combat the widespread problems it causes, and a probing analysis of the culture at large. Publishers Weekly Twenge (Generation Me) and Campbell (When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself) argue that the U.S. is suffering from an epidemic of narcissism, as real and as dangerous as the more widely reported obesity epidemic. Although Christopher Lasch's 1979 bestseller The Culture of Narcissism identified the phenomenon, this book draws on far more extensive research findings to claim that one in 10 Americans in their 20s suffers from narcissistic personality disorder, a psychocultural affliction and unanticipated consequence of the emphasis placed on self-esteem and self-promotion in modern parenting and the media and fed by Internet social networking sites that reinforce an obsessive need for admiration and ego-enhancement. At times, the authors sound like old scolds, but they themselves are members of the "Me Generation" and support their generalizations with persuasive evidence, particularly data derived from surveying 37,000 college students. Suggesting that the current financial crisis is, in part, a consequence of the narcissism epidemic affords the book an unexpected up-to-the-minute dimension, and the authors conclude with a dash of optimism, positing that straitened circumstances might cure Americans of all ages of narcissism. (Apr.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Foreword to the Paperback Edition ixIntroduction: The Growing Narcissism in American Culture 1Section 1 The diagnosisChapter 1 The Many Wonders of Admiring Yourself 13Chapter 2 The Disease of Excessive Self-Admiration and the Top Five Myths About Narcissism 18Chapter 3 Isn't Narcissism Beneficial, Especially in a Competitive World?: Challenging Another Myth About Narcissism 40Chapter 4 How Did We Get Here?: Origins of the Epidemic 57Section 2 Root Causes of the EpidemicChapter 5 Parenting: Raising Royalty 73Chapter 6 Superspreaders!: The Celebrity and Media Transmission of Narcissism 90Chapter 7 Look at Me on MySpace: Web 2.0 and the Quest for Attention 107Chapter 8 I Deserve the Best at 18% APR: Easy Credit and the Repeal of the Reality Principle 123Section 3 Symptoms of NarcissismChapter 9 Hell Yeah, I'm Hot!: Vanity 141Chapter 10 The Spending Explosion and its Impact on the Environment: Materialism 160Chapter 11 Seven Billion Kinds of Special: Uniqueness 180Chapter 12 The Quest for Infamy and the Rise of Incivility: Antisocial Behavior 195Chapter 13 The Chocolate Cake Trap: Relationship Troubles 211Chapter 14 All Play and No Work: Entitlement 230Chapter 15 God Didn't Create You to Be Average: Religion and Volunteering 244Section 4 Prognosis and TreatmentChapter 16 The Prognosis: How Far, and for How Long, Will Narcissism Spread? 259Chapter 17 Treating the Epidemic of Narcissism 280Appendix: How Individuals Affect Culture, and Culture Affects Individuals 305Bibliography 309Acknowledgments 321Index 327
