from Elizabeth Lasch-Quinn’s 2006 introduction to Philip Rieff’s seminal work
With nothing shared beyond a commitment to the self, which turns out to be a commitment to nothing, the individual lacks essential resources for flourishing in ordinary times and for solace in periods of great need. The anything goes mentality of niche marketing prevails, driving what qualifies as reading and thinking downward to new lows.
Elizabeth Lasch-Quinn, “Introduction (2006),” in Triumph of the Therapeutic: uses of faith after Freud, by Philip Rieff, 40th Anniversary Edition. (ISI Books, 2006), vii–xxvi.
Interesting – I recently took possession of a 2nd hand copy of Rieff as it’s close to what I’m wanting to talk about at MSW in May…
And I think that Rieff is as close as it gets to a prophet of our culture. Have you read “The Narcissism Epidemic” by Jean M. Twenge?
No – but I do have several books on my shelf about narcissism (eg Lasch) that I plan to be working through. Also did quite a lot of thinking about narcissism in my own 3 years of therapy…!
Just started Gerhard Forde’s “On Being a Theologian of the Cross” and in his preface he notes the shift from sinner to victim and states: “Since we are victims and not really sinners, what we need is affirmation and support, and so on. The language slips and falls out of the place. It becomes therapeutic rather than evangelical…”