The Culture of Narcissism.Critical Book Review Essay

In the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx identifies a dichotomy that is created and bolstered by the capitalist mode of production. In this mode of production, the dichotomy presents itself in a division of labor that forms of two kinds of people: capitalists, the owners of the means of production, and laborers, those who work under the domain of the capitalist. Marx harshly criticizes this mode of production, arguing that it exploits the laborer and estranges him from himself and his fellow man. According to Marx, this large-scale estrangement is achieved through a causal chain of effects that results in multiple types of alienation, each contingent upon the other. First, Marx asserts that under capitalism, the laborer is alienated from his product of labor. Second, because of this alienation from his product, man is also alienated then from the act of production. Third, man, in being alienated both from his product and act of production, is alienated from his species essence, which Marx believes to be the ability to create and build up an objective world. Finally, after this series of alienations, Marx arrives at his grand conclusion that capitalist labor causes man to be alienated from his fellow man. In this paper, I will argue in support of Marx’s chain of alienations, arriving at the conclusion that laborers, under the capitalist mode of production, cannot retain their species essence and thus cannot connect with one another, and exist in a world

What is narcissism? There is no specific definition for it. In psychology, narcissism is a negative and bad character trait. Narcissists have an excessive pride and they obsess with self. In other words, they think they are better than others and only care about themselves. In fact, being confident can also be accused as narcissism. However, narcissism is more than self confidence. Nowadays, Generation Y is being claimed as narcissists and there are so many reason that the critics try to list it out to prove their claim. In my opinion, Generation Y is just adapt to the environment they are living right now. Accusing Millennials as narcissist is not accurate.

Karl Marx witnessed first hand the rise of the industrial revolution and the beginning of capitalism. He also became one of capitalisms biggest critics. Marx believed that society needed a better way of distrusting wealth but also a better way a finding people’s full human potential or what he called “species-essence”. Marx believed that what we do connects to who we are, for example, work is what makes us human. It fulfills our species essence, as he puts it. Work allows us to be creative and flourish. However, in the 19th century Europe work did the quit opposite, it destroyed workers, particularly those who had nothing to sell but their labor. To the mill and factory owners a worker was simply an abstract idea with a stomach that needed to be filled. The workers had no choice but to work for long hours for a pathetic wage. Even worse, their labor alienated them. Alienation is a disorienting sense of exclusion and separation. Factory labor, under capitalism, alienated the workers from the product of their labor. They made stuff they couldn’t afford to buy themselves. The products they made were shipped out to other places far way to make money

During the 60s and 70s, the revolution of the enhancement of self-esteem came into existence into the United States’ society. Jean Twenge’s article “An Army One: Me”, she discusses how the forced instilling of self-esteem, especially in small children, has caused the current generation to develop narcissistic qualities. One would presume that by the promotion of narcissism, we would inevitably discontinue the promotion of self-esteem. However, self-esteem plays a vital role in humanity’s search for

“Narcissistic Personality Disorder: A Guide to Signs, Diagnosis, and Treatments”, a Psycom article written by Christina Gregory Ph.D., is an article that explains the overall concept of narcissism as a personality disorder as well as its symptoms and causes. The author explains narcissism by explaining that “It is characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, a lack of empathy for others, and a great need for admiration.” Narcissists, who tend to have an indefinite view of self-superiority, typically are not happy or become upset when the people surrounding them are not consistent with their need to feel admiration or praise regularly. These individuals do have an overstated sense of entitlement and self-absorption who tend to belittle the people around them and have trouble giving any credit to anyone else as well as allowing themselves to be social critiques, but they are considered the ones who usually are not able to handle when criticism is bestowed upon them. Narcissism can range from moderate to severe and has the ability to tear down and drain any relationship they try to build as it is unfulfilling to the narcissist and not enjoyable for the potential

Narcissism occurs on a continuum, and everyone thinks narcissistically. The following are examples of some things that may be the result of narcissistic thinking, and can be either spoken or just thought. They may be generated consciously, or subconsciously. If consciously generated, the reason behind them can be found. If generated subconsciously, the reason will be illusive. Subconscious beliefs are responsible for producing the narcissitic idea, and the conscious mind agrees.

Capitalism is seen as the American Dream with so many possibilities to become a success. Marx does not see capitalism this way. In fact, he sees it as the exact opposite. Rather than living a meaningful life, Marx thinks that because of capitalism that people live an alienated life. He thinks that we are dominated by impersonal powers and that people do not have control over their own life when capitalism is in the way. Marx says, “the positing of social activity, the consolidation of our product as a real power over us, growing out of our control.” Marx imagines society pre and post capitalism and sees it as a better place. He thinks that if we drastically reorganized our economic system, alienation could be abolished. One of Marx’s biggest claims is that because of work, people stress themselves

In Henry Veldboom’s article, “Our Wealth, Where is It Taking Us?”, Veldboom addresses the negative impact of capitalism on American society as well as its possible ramifications in the future. The paper begins by describing the relationship that the West associates with wealth and happiness. After drawing from this relationship Veldboom describes how the birth of post-industrial capitalism gave rise to consumerism. The text defines consumerism as a desire to acquire goods in order to fulfill a person's belief that each acquired good serves as a benefactor and a necessity. Moreover, Veldboom draws the conclusion that this type of reasoning perpetuates capitalism and gives businesses the ability to exploit people using marketing techniques

Narcissism: is a term that originated with Narcissus in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Currently it is used to describe the pursuit of gratification from vanity, or egotistic admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, that derive from arrogant pride.

In the first instance, the client will curtail or stop the consumption of alcohol, then we can attend to the needs of the body, to gain health and strength to build their physiology and heal. The client’s thinking and behaviour towards alcohol needs to change. The participation in a non-drinking culture will also help our process. The client will also gain education about alcohol use and abuse to build their understanding, addressing emotional issues and their interactions with old and new people. Sorting out housing, work and money issues will reduce stress, and working on limiting narcissism through self-transcendence. We can address the client’s needs in treatment in the recovery process in three phases

Great leaders care about their people more than others. Narcissistic? Yes, but they also care about others. Narcissism is not bad if you don’t disregard others views. In this essay I will show why Patriotism, Democracy and Freedom are the most important values in America. Also how narcissism, if you care about others is better than low self esteem.

Many normal people and even psychologists say that america is living in an age of narcissism. Each and every one of those people are absolutely right. The word narcissism originates from the story Narcissus and Echo(Resource A). This story is about a man named Narcissus who was loved by a nymph named Echo. Narcissus kept rejecting her because he felt that the only one good enough for him was himself. A god saw what was happening and cursed Narcissus so that he would actually fall in love with himself. Americans tend to only think about themselves, whether its sports stars, movie stars, music stars, or even just another regular american most of us are narcissists.

Narcissism is defined as excessive self-love and self-absorption by Myers and Dewall, (Myers & Dewall, 2015). A narcissist is completely and utterly obsessed with their own self. According to Caligor, Levy, and Yeomans (2015), narcissistic personality disorder is highly comorbid with other disorders and other psychosocial disabilities. Unfortunately, there has not been very much research on narcissism and its effects and symptoms in the past. Because of this, new studies are occurring to discover the untold answers about narcissism. Thanks to the newly found research, it has been shown that there are two subtypes of narcissistic personality disorder, with characteristics of grandiosity and vulnerability. (Lannin, Guyll, Krizan, Madon & Cornish, 2013). Those who struggle with narcissistic personality disorder may be generalized as a grandiose narcissist or a vulnerable narcissist. A grandiose narcissist may be self-loathing, have a need for admiration, feel as though they are entitled to everything, and have a lack of empathy, (Caligor, Levy, & Yeomans, 2015). A vulnerable narcissist is one who struggles with, or has low self-esteem; they are hypersensitive, they may also feel lesser than everyone else, and may feel internal emptiness, (Caligor, Levy, & Yeoman, 2015).

Karl Marx advocated that we should omit capitalism from society because it is crisis prone and produces internal tensions. With capitalism dominating the western world, modern work becomes alienated. In order to be fulfilled at work, Marx believed workers should see themselves in the work they have created. Modern work is incredibly concentrated, making the economy efficient by achieving maximum productivity with no room for wasted expense. This makes it impossible for any worker to attain a sense of genuine effort they are contributing to humanity. Workers feel disconnected from the completion of their everyday tasks and what they could potentially be producing to society. Another flaw Marx brings up about the capitalist system is that capitalism makes individuals easily replaceable “The middle class begins to sink into the proletariat… their specialized skill is rendered worthless by new methods of production,” (Marx 299). In the force of production, the second costs begin to rise, the necessity rate for laborers is lowered due to the fact that savings can be made through technology. Marx biggest concern is that capitalists reduce the wages of laborers as much as possible in order to achieve a high profit margin “The growing competition among the bourgeois, and the resulting commercial crises, make the wages of workers ever more fluctuating,” (Marx 300). Capitalism manipulate and pays workers lower wages for producing work that can be sold for a much higher price. A capitalist’s theory of profit comes as a reward for innovation and technological achievements. Marx sees this idea of profit as theft because capitalists are stripping their work force of creativity and hard labor.

The Adams, Florell, Burton, and Hart, (2014) study presupposed that narcissists appear to have disapproval for social-demeanors customs; additionally, narcissists are more feasible to exaggerate and act antagonistically toward other individuals by use belligerent linguistic. Narcissists are predisposed to break social-manners standards, and the primary reason for this inclination is basically vague (Adams et al, 2014). Narcissists might disrupt social-manners standards as a way of grasping individual’s responsiveness (Adams et al, 2014). In addition, narcissists, for numerous explanations, merely recognize such custom abuses as less invasive con pared to non-narcissists (Adams et al, 2014). There