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“It appears that the prostitute, not the salesman, best exemplifies the qualities indispensable to success in American society.”
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
“In America, organized athletics teach militarism, authoritarianism
, racism, and sexism, thereby perpetuating the
"false consciousness" of the masses. Sports serve as an "opiate" of
the people, diverting the masses from their real problems with a
"dream world" of glamour and excitement. They promote sexual
-rivalry among males-with "vestal virgins" leading the cheers
from the sidelines-and thus prevent the proletariat from achieving
revolutionary solidarity in the face of its oppressors.”
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
, racism, and sexism, thereby perpetuating the
"false consciousness" of the masses. Sports serve as an "opiate" of
the people, diverting the masses from their real problems with a
"dream world" of glamour and excitement. They promote sexual
-rivalry among males-with "vestal virgins" leading the cheers
from the sidelines-and thus prevent the proletariat from achieving
revolutionary solidarity in the face of its oppressors.”
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
“The master propagandist, like the advertising expert, avoids obvious emotional appeals and strives for a tone that is consistent with the prosaic quality of modern life—a dry, bland matter-of-factness. Nor does the propagandist circulate "intentionally biased" information. He knows that partial truths serve as more effective instruments of deception than lies. Thus he tries to impress the public with statistics of economic growth that neglect to give the base year from which growth is calculated, with accurate but meaningless facts about the standard of living—with raw and uninterpreted data, in other words, from which the audience is invited to draw the inescapable conclusion that things are getting better and the present régime therefore deserves the people's confidence, or on the other hand that things are getting worse so rapidly that the present régime should be given emergency powers to deal with the developing crisis.”
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
“In a society that dreads old age and death, aging holds a special terror for those who fear dependence and whose' self-esteem requires the admiration usually reserved for youth, beauty, celebrity, or charm. The usual defenses against the ravages of age—identification with ethical or artistic values beyond one's immediate interests, intellectual curiosity, the consoling emotional warmth derived from happy relationships in the past—can do nothing for the narcissist. Unable to derive whatever com-fort comes from identification with historical continuity, he finds it impossible, on the contrary, "to accept the fact that a younger generation now possesses many of the previously cherished gratifications of beauty, wealth, power and, particularly, creativity. To be able to enjoy life in a process involving a growing identification with other people's happiness and achievements is tragically beyond the capacity of narcissistic personalities.”
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
“The self-consciousness that mocks all attempts at spontaneous
action or enjoyment derives in the last analysis from the waning
belief in the reality of the external world, which has lost its immediacy
in a society pervaded by "symbolically mediated information."
The more man objectifies himself in his work, the more
reality takes on the appearance of illusion. As the workings of the
modern economy and the modern social order become increasingly
inaccessible to everyday intelligence, art and philosophy
abdicate the task of explaining them to the allegedly objective sciences of society, which themselves have retreated from the effort
to master reality into the classification of trivia. Reality thus
presents itself, to laymen and "scientists" alike, as an impenetrable
network of social relations-as "role playing," the "presentation
of self in everyday life." To the performing self, the only
reality is the identity he can construct out of materials furnished
by advertising and mass culture, themes of popular film and
fiction, and fragments torn from a vast range of cultural traditions,
all of them equally contemporaneous to the contemporary
mind.* In order to polish and perfect the part he has devised for
himself, the new Narcissus gazes at his own reflection, not so
much in admiration as in unremitting search of flaws, signs of
fatigue, decay. Life becomes a work of art, while "the first art
work in an artist," in Norman Mailer's pronouncement, "is the
shaping of his own personality.”
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
action or enjoyment derives in the last analysis from the waning
belief in the reality of the external world, which has lost its immediacy
in a society pervaded by "symbolically mediated information."
The more man objectifies himself in his work, the more
reality takes on the appearance of illusion. As the workings of the
modern economy and the modern social order become increasingly
inaccessible to everyday intelligence, art and philosophy
abdicate the task of explaining them to the allegedly objective sciences of society, which themselves have retreated from the effort
to master reality into the classification of trivia. Reality thus
presents itself, to laymen and "scientists" alike, as an impenetrable
network of social relations-as "role playing," the "presentation
of self in everyday life." To the performing self, the only
reality is the identity he can construct out of materials furnished
by advertising and mass culture, themes of popular film and
fiction, and fragments torn from a vast range of cultural traditions,
all of them equally contemporaneous to the contemporary
mind.* In order to polish and perfect the part he has devised for
himself, the new Narcissus gazes at his own reflection, not so
much in admiration as in unremitting search of flaws, signs of
fatigue, decay. Life becomes a work of art, while "the first art
work in an artist," in Norman Mailer's pronouncement, "is the
shaping of his own personality.”
― The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
Andrew’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Andrew’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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