The Overpraised American: Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism revisited

Today, a book about the vagaries of the American character might still have a great deal to say about narcissism, but its subtitle would likely point to something other than diminishing expectations. It would, perhaps, document "Life in the Age of the Overpraised American," for praise (and its kin, attention-seeking) is our common cultural currency. If, in the twentieth century, "character" gave way to "personality," as Lasch and others such as Richard Sennett and Anthony Giddens argued, then in the twenty-first century "personality" exists only if it is broadcast, rated, praised, and consumed by as many people as possible--put on display for strangers as well as intimates.

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