Erhard Seminars Training
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| - | '''''The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations''''' is a 1979 book by the [[cultural history|cultural historian]] [[Christopher Lasch]], in which he explores the roots and ramifications of the normalizing of pathological [[narcissism]] in 20th century American culture using psychological, cultural, artistic and historical synthesis. For the [[Paperback#Mass-market paperback|mass market edition]] published in September of the same year, Lasch won the 1980 U.S. [[National Book Award]] in the [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Current|category Current Interest]] (paperback). | + | '''Erhard Seminars Training''' (marketed as '''est''', though often encountered as '''EST''' or '''Est'''), an organization founded by [[Werner Erhard]] in 1971, offered a two-weekend (60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". The seminar aimed "to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself". |
| + | == Related organizations == | ||
| - | From 1980 to 1983 in [[National Book Award#History|National Book Award history]] there were dual awards for hardcover and paperback books in many categories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one, but its first edition was eligible only in the same award year.</ref> | + | * [[The Hunger Project]] |
| + | * [[Werner Erhard and Associates]] | ||
| + | * [[Landmark Worldwide]] | ||
| - | ==Summary== | + | == See also == |
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| - | Lasch proposes that since [[World War II]], post-war America has produced a [[personality type|personality-type]] consistent with clinical definitions of "pathological narcissism." This pathology is not akin to everyday [[narcissism]], a hedonistic egoism, but with clinical diagnosis of [[narcissistic personality disorder]]. For Lasch, "pathology represents a heightened version of normality." He locates symptoms of this personality disorder in the radical political movements of the 1960s (such as the [[Weather Underground]]), as well as in the [[spirituality|spiritual]] [[cult]]s and movements of the 1970s, from [[Erhard Seminars Training|est]] to [[Rolfing]]. | + | |
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| - | ==Reaction== | + | |
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| - | An early response to ''The Culture of Narcissism'' commented that Lasch had identified the outcomes in [[American society]] of the decline of the [[family]] over the previous century. The book quickly became a [[bestseller]] and a talking point, being further propelled to success after Lasch notably visited [[Camp David]] to advise [[Jimmy Carter|President Carter]] for his "crisis of confidence" speech of 15 July 1979. Later editions include a new afterword, "The Culture of Narcissism Revisited". | + | |
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| - | Author [[Louis Menand]] argues that the book has been commonly misused by liberals and conservatives alike, who cited it for their own ideological agendas. Menand wrote: <blockquote>Lasch was not saying that things were better in the 1950s, as conservatives offended by countercultural permissiveness probably took him to be saying. He was not saying that things were better in the 1960s, as former activists disgusted by the 'me-ism' of the seventies are likely to have imagined. He was diagnosing a condition that he believed had originated in the nineteenth century. | + | |
| - | </blockquote> Lasch attempted to correct many of these misapprehensions with ''The Minimal Self'' in 1984. | + | |
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| - | Anthony Elliott writes that ''The Culture of Narcissism'' and ''The Minimal Self'' are Lasch's two best-known books. | + | |
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| - | == Some editions == | + | |
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| - | * New York: Norton, 1979. {{ISBN|0-393-01177-1}} | + | |
| - | * New York: Warner Books, 1980. {{ISBN|0-446-97495-1}} | + | |
| - | * New York: Norton; Revised edition (May 1991). {{ISBN|978-0-393-30738-2}} | + | |
| + | * [[EST and The Forum in popular culture]] | ||
| + | * [[Estate of Jack Slee v. Werner Erhard]] | ||
| + | * ''[[Getting It: The Psychology of est]]'' | ||
| + | * [[Human potential movement]] | ||
| + | * [[Large-group awareness training]] | ||
| + | * [[List of large-group awareness training organizations]] | ||
| + | * [[Outrageous Betrayal]] | ||
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Erhard Seminars Training (marketed as est, though often encountered as EST or Est), an organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971, offered a two-weekend (60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". The seminar aimed "to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself".
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Related organizations
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See also
- EST and The Forum in popular culture
- Estate of Jack Slee v. Werner Erhard
- Getting It: The Psychology of est
- Human potential movement
- Large-group awareness training
- List of large-group awareness training organizations
- Outrageous Betrayal
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