Narcissism Rears its Pretty Head Again
For the last thirty years narcissism (e.g. Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, 1978; Jean Twenge, The Narcissism Epidemic, 2009) has been an off and on staple of American cultural criticism. The publication of books on the topic is followed by a flurry of attention, at first promoted by publishers and then spreading virally through the media. In “Broadsheet” ( Salon, July 27, 2009) Judy Berman contributes to the trend with a discussion of “The culture of (female) narcissism.” Drawing on Twenge’s book and on an article by the Guardian’s Jane Bunting (“The narcissism of consumer society has left women unhappier than ever,” The Guardian, July 26, 2009), she explicates an apparent link between increasing narcissism and growing unhappiness among women. Narcissists have unrealistic, unattainable goals and expectations of themselves, and can therefore hardly fail to be unhappy. Berman asks a question she admittedly can’t answer: if women’s self-expectations are growing increasin...