So how did the individual become the narcissist? Many theorists have offered explanations as to what particular social conditions contributed to the rise of narcissism. Specifically, Lasch talks about it within the context of America society. I think narcissism in America is of more interest than that which exists elsewhere, due to excessive level of economic development in the US, in fact most of the social condition or economic trends which lead to narcissism, exist in their most extreme form in America. (Surely this must point to ideas of redemptive history – can we not learn from the mistakes of America? – A country consumed by consumerism, the most economically developed in the world, yet one that bleeds as much as it celebrates itself. A country of balance only in terms of the amazingly rich and the unbearably impoverished!)
The spread of new technology, enabling communication and travel on a scale never experienced in history, the consciousness of the individual becomes global as oppose to localised. This has helped to create a culture of privatised ‘survival strategies’ (Lasch 1979, in Giddens p171). People become wrapped up in their own problems and risks because to think of the problems and risks within the wider world would be an over bearing demand on the fragile human condition. Here we can see an example of social economic conditions dictating the attitudes and development of the individual as a narcissist. Another consequence of the tremendous rate of technological and economic development is the feeling that Lasch highlights, of historical isolation, the feeling of being ‘part of a long line of generations’ (Lasch, 1979 p236) has dissolved in favour of a ‘live for the moment’ ethos. This is another social condition created by the ‘formation of a secular, capitalistic urban culture’ (Giddens, 1991 p170) which has created feelings in the individual, forcing them to seek out feelings of identity and security within the private sphere (the self) as oppose to the public. It is the ‘transformations which ushered in modernity [tearing] the individual free from its stable moorings in traditions and structures’ (Hall, 1994 p121) which induces the feelings of insecurity and uncertainty which ultimately drive the individual to seek satisfaction from the self. An socio-economic effect of this process was the ‘death public space’ (Sennett in Giddens 1991 p170). This idea is touched upon further by urbanist Walter Benjamin, he talks of the individual within the public space ‘behaving as though he is a stranger to the destiny of all others / He exists only in himself for himself’ (Benjamin in Sennett 1994 p323). Perhaps Benjamin did not pay enough attention to the link between behaviour and effects of social and economic factors on the individual. The individual is a ‘stranger to the destiny of all others’ because if he/she wasn’t, then they would no longer be an individual, they would be part of a greater whole. Even collective individuality exists only on the pretence that people remain individuals.
Here we come to an interesting point, and one which is wholly relevant to this discourse. Has social solidarity dissolved or merely changed form? Again, with Benjamin. ‘Individualism of this sort might bring a certain order to society – the co-existence of people inward-turned tolerating one another out of mutual indifference’ (Benjamin in Sennett, 1994 p323). Another idea which illustrates this change well, is the city as text, Sennatt writes of the city becoming a collection of ‘arteries and veins’ (Sennatt, 1994 p 289) whereby people flow, moving through public space and not utilising it. Indeed the city is an interesting place to study the concept of narcissism, which, as a concept in today’s society is not a negative one. ‘ The narcissist has many traits that make for success in bureaucratic institutions, which put a premium on manipulation of interpersonal relationships’ (Lasch 1979 p285). An example of how economic conditions can facilitate certain ways of thinking, and certainly within a context of a consumerist society, where money is intrinsically linked to most of the ‘important’ things in life – this is an environment where narcissism is bound to triumph.
The identity and satisfaction which is gained via narcissism, is also backed up by a number of exponents of popular culture, for example, pop stars and film stars, who all generally adhere to the consumerist identity which they help create. Popular culture is part of the mass media, as it is the only way for the populous to access it. The mass-media, including advertising, (creating and directing demand) soap operas, (assuring populous of identity with snippets of extreme forms ‘normal life’) and the tabloids, (sensationalising and distorting reality, motivated by money) all help create the consumerist society obsessed with filling the void with self-identity. Jean Baudrillard, an inspired post-modernist talks of the ‘implosion of the social in the media’ and the ‘silent majority’ (Baudrillard in Polity Reader 1994 p112). He writes at length, and with a wonderfully descriptive style, of the power of the media not in terms of representation or reflection, but of creation and manipulation. We are ‘in the shadow of the silent majority’(Baudrillard 1983 p2), no longer do we reflect ourselves in the mirror, we have ‘dissolved through the mirror into nothingness’ (Baudrillard 1983 p17)
Yet, against the ‘backdrop of substantial moral depravation’ (Giddens, 1991 p170) and ‘experiencing a nothingness imposed by a greater social structure’ (Hebdige, 1979 p 257) the ‘reflexive project of the self’(Giddens, 1991 p 169) must utilise all means available to establish self-worth and identity. The individual could ‘use patterns of consumption as a means of establishing their rank and worth’ (Brock, 1994, p181)
Narcissism is a prevailing force within western society, but as to claims of ‘triumphing’ over social solidarity, I am not convinced. Social solidarity exists now in a different form, it has been developed from the times when comparatively small groups of people, gained identity and a sense of community, from being part of that group, to a much more complex system which
‘Has derived from a quite specific changes in our society and culture – from bureaucracy, the proliferation of images, therapeutic ideologies, the rationalisation of the inner life, the cult of consumption and changes in family life’ (Lasch, 1979 p44)
Social solidarity now exists as collective narcissism – ‘mutual indifference’ (Benjamin in Sennett 1994, p323)
Baudrillard, J (1983) ‘In the Shadows of the Silent Majority’, USA: Autonomedia
Baudrillard, J (1994) ‘The Masses: The Implosion of The Social in The Media’ in Polity Reader in Cultural Theory, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Brock, R (1994) ‘The Emergence of Consumer Society’ in Polity Reader in Cultural Theory, Cambridge: Polity Press
Giddens, A (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity – Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hall, S (1994) ‘The Question of Cultural Identity’ Polity Reader in Cultural Theory, Cambridge: Polity Press
Hebdige, G (1979) ‘Music for Pleasure’ in Epstein, J (ed) Youth Culture – Identity in a Post-modern World, London: Blackwell.
Lasch, C (1979) The Culture of Narcissism – American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations, New York: Norton
Sennatt, R (1994) Flesh and Stone – The Body and the City in Western Civilisation
