Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism: the failure of a critique of psychological politics

De Vos, Jan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9659-504X 2010. Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism: the failure of a critique of psychological politics. Theory and Psychology 20 (4) , pp. 528-548. 10.1177/0959354309351764

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Abstract

Christopher Lasch's bestseller The Culture of Narcissism had, beyond doubt, a significant impact-it was even read in the White House. Today it is not only still frequently taught and referenced, there are also still empirical studies conducted which try to verify Lasch's assertion of the preponderance of the narcissistic personality. This paper re-reads the book as a critique of psychologization processes, and this allows us to discern, besides the flaws in Lasch's approach, a fundamental insight which goes largely unnoticed by both Lasch's opponents and his proponents. Following this, the article will situate subjectivity within the matrix of psychology, science, psychoanalysis, and politics. In this way a critique of contemporary forms of psychologization-psychologization under globalization, as it were-is made possible.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	SAGE
ISSN:	0959-3543
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2022 10:16
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/138887

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