The Culture of Narcissism: Wednesday Evening Lectures
Item
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Title
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The Culture of Narcissism: Wednesday Evening Lectures
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Description
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Christopher Lasch 1932-1994) was the Don Alonzo Watson Professor of History. Lasch joined the University faculty in 1970, becoming chairman of the history department in 1985. He was nationally acclaimed for the way he analyzed modern American society through the lens of history.
Born in Omaha, Neb., Lasch attended Harvard University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1954. He considered going into journalism like his father, an editorial writer, but changed his mind when he was told newspapers were folding every day.
He went on to Columbia University, where he earned a master's degree in 1955 and a Ph.D. in history in 1961. He taught at Williams College for three years in the 1950s and at Roosevelt University, the University of Iowa, and Northwestern University in the 1960s.
Lasch gained national notoriety for his discomforting analyses of American society. The Culture of Narcissism, in which he predicted Americans would turn to increasing consumption during the 1980s, became a bestseller and led to a consulting invitation from President Jimmy Carter. Other notable books include Haven in a Heartless World: The Family Besieged, in 1977, and The Minimal Self: Psychic Survival in Troubled Times, in 1984.
"My work is really an attempt to use history as a form of social criticism and to bring the past to bear on the present," he once said.
Such an approach, he added, should be more common in academic circles. Instead, historians often fall into the trap of rewriting history to fit their beliefs about today's society.
Lasch was especially interested in the American notion that each generation should do better economically than the one before. As he saw it, the idea that progress is inevitable has bred this century's social, political and economic problems.
Liberals, with whom Lasch identified himself early in his career, opposed his later writings, which lamented the breakdown of community spirit and traditional families in America. Conservatives disliked his invectives against the elitism of the Reagan era -- and his claims that conservatism was not a presidential priority during the 1980s.
Lasch was an adviser for the Center for the Study of Commercialism, which studies the way America embraces capitalism and consumption. He also was a consulting editor for a variety of national publications and a recipient of Ford and Guggenheim Foundation grants.
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Identifier
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7691
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Creator
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Lasch, Christopher
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Date
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10/3/1979
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Extent
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76 minutes
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Type
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Sound
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Rights
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Tag
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UA AV
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Is Part Of
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University of Rochester Archives Audiovisual Collection
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publicAccess
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0
