"First published as a Norton paperback 1991, reissued with a new introduction, 2018" -- title page verso. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
The awareness movement and the social invasion of the self -- The narcissistic personality of our time -- Changing modes of making it : from Horatio Alger to the happy hooker -- The banality of pseudo-self-awareness : theatrics of politics and everyday existence -- The degradation of sport -- Schooling and the new illiteracy -- The socialization of reproduction and the collapse of authority -- The flight from feeling : sociopsychology of the sex war -- The shattered faith in the regeneration of life -- Paternalism without father.
Summary:
In a work which is even more relevant in the twenty-first century than when it was written, the author argues that American society has become increasingly self-absorbed, focused on self-gratification to the exclusion of higher values, and that the mass narcissism of the culture is based on fear.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.