The Best Seller as an Indicator of Societal Narcissism: Is There a Trend?

Abstract

A content analysis of the subject matter of nonfiction best sellers was performed to assess changes in societal narcissism. A number of content categories were identified, a priori, as indicative of narcissism, conceptually defined in terms of self-absorption: e.g., concern for psychic self-improvement, mysticism, and an interest in health, physical fitness, diet, and sexuality. An unobtrusive measure, the Dewey Decimal Classification number, was used to sort best-selling titles into narcissistic and non-narcissistic groups for the years 1950 through 1979. As hypothesized, societal narcissism, as reflected in popular reading preferences, increased over the three-decade period. Lynn S. Mullins is Head Librarian at Marymount Manhattan College. Richard E. Kopelman is Professor of Management at Baruch College, The City University of New York. The authors are grateful to Mark Berenson and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive suggestions and advice. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society (Boston), March 1984. Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 48:720-730 C) by the Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc 0033-362X/84/0048-720/$2.50 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.183 on Thu, 26 May 2016 04:42:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms BEST SELLERS AND NARCISSISM: A TREND? 721 tion to the widespread preoccupation with the that is characteristic of the contemporary culture. Sennett (1977) details the shift from an otherdirected to an inner-directed condition as an integral part of a change in Western society, while Bell (1976) traces the new legitimization of the untrammeled self as an outgrowth of society's glorification of rampant individualism. Schur (1976) focuses on the self-awareness movement (meditation, biofeedback, assertiveness training, personal growth, and relating) as a false solution for social problems. Lasch (1978), a cultural historian, is perhaps the social critic most responsible for linking to societal changes. According to Lasch, the culture of narcissism is manifested by the excessive search for meaning within one's self, the obsession with individual lifestyle, and the individual's estrangement from the cultural environment. Moreover, the outgrowths of selfabsorption, in Lasch's view, are shallow, transitory interpersonal relationships, a fascination with mystical cults and celebrities, an intense fear of old age and death, and the devaluation of the past. For the political scientists Morgenthau and Person (1978), the exaltation of the sense of that constitutes contemporary is reflected in the retreat from an insistence on political freedom to an interest in personal