The Politics of Narcissism

Narcissism as a political force has been an essential, if covert, problem in the United States since the 1960s. Christopher Lasch famously theorized narcissism as a collective undercurrent that shapes, or rather, breaks down, social cohesion and purpose. What Lasch called “the culture of narcissism” in the book of the same name 46 years ago is now, simply, culture. There is no American culture without narcissism. We cannot even conceive of it.