Thoughtful article, with a relevant and useful perspective. I would argue that this so-called “culture of choice” is nothing more than consumerism run rampant, with parents whose lack of capacity for critical thinking has left them unable to shield their children from its insistent demands to buy, buy, buy. But in order for that to work, people must first be cultured in an ethos of narcissism, something psychologists Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell write about in The Narcissism Epidemic. Narcissism has replaced what was once a view of society as the relationship of individuals to a larger whole, which implied that self-gratification isn’t necessarily always the first imperative, that our choices have an impact beyond ourselves. According to Twenge and Campbell, the so-called “entitled generation” didn’t happen by accident but is a logical outcome of four decades or so of cultivating narcissism, each successive generation becoming more narcissist than the last. Children now run the household; a first in human history as far as I know. As you say, this imposes a burden on them they are not constitutionally or intellectually able to bear. That’s why parents were invented. Joel Bakan in his book and documentary The Corporation pointed out how corporations now routinely hire psychologists from elite universities in order to more successfully manipulate the public to buy their products. And one of the things they realized long ago was that marketing to children as the primary consumer works far more consistently than marketing to adults alone. A child’s lack of experience and critical thinking capacity leaves them more open to manipulation, which then is passed on to the parents via the “nag factor.” This shift in culture happened, according to the BBC documentary The Century of the Self, somewhere around the middle of the 1960s and was largely driven by marketing imperatives. JFK’s famous dictum, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” marks the watershed of the previous era just as it began to be eclipsed by the new narcissist-driven consumerist utopia. Marketing experts like Edward Bernays were critical in developing this new paradigm. From that day to this, people are expected to define themselves by what they buy, rather than focusing on how choice can best be reflected by our ethical behaviour, how we hew to our integrity, how we contribute to society rather than demanding that it always serve our personal needs. “Paternalistic is exactly what parenting should be.” This idea that kids are born with as much “wisdom” as their parents is a New Age trope that needs to be dispensed with. Evolutionary biology gives the lie to such nonsense.
Car; Trueman’s book, ‘The rise and triumph of self’ is fascinating on the so-called culture of choice.
Susan Grimsdale
2 years ago
Really late to read this article but I thoroughly enjoyed it – and agreed with most of the points made. While I do appreciate the many choices I have in my life and situation, sometimes less is more.Thank you Giles.
Thoughtful article, with a relevant and useful perspective. I would argue that this so-called “culture of choice” is nothing more than consumerism run rampant, with parents whose lack of capacity for critical thinking has left them unable to shield their children from its insistent demands to buy, buy, buy.
But in order for that to work, people must first be cultured in an ethos of narcissism, something psychologists Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell write about in The Narcissism Epidemic. Narcissism has replaced what was once a view of society as the relationship of individuals to a larger whole, which implied that self-gratification isn’t necessarily always the first imperative, that our choices have an impact beyond ourselves. According to Twenge and Campbell, the so-called “entitled generation” didn’t happen by accident but is a logical outcome of four decades or so of cultivating narcissism, each successive generation becoming more narcissist than the last. Children now run the household; a first in human history as far as I know. As you say, this imposes a burden on them they are not constitutionally or intellectually able to bear. That’s why parents were invented.
Joel Bakan in his book and documentary The Corporation pointed out how corporations now routinely hire psychologists from elite universities in order to more successfully manipulate the public to buy their products. And one of the things they realized long ago was that marketing to children as the primary consumer works far more consistently than marketing to adults alone. A child’s lack of experience and critical thinking capacity leaves them more open to manipulation, which then is passed on to the parents via the “nag factor.”
This shift in culture happened, according to the BBC documentary The Century of the Self, somewhere around the middle of the 1960s and was largely driven by marketing imperatives. JFK’s famous dictum, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” marks the watershed of the previous era just as it began to be eclipsed by the new narcissist-driven consumerist utopia. Marketing experts like Edward Bernays were critical in developing this new paradigm.
From that day to this, people are expected to define themselves by what they buy, rather than focusing on how choice can best be reflected by our ethical behaviour, how we hew to our integrity, how we contribute to society rather than demanding that it always serve our personal needs.
“Paternalistic is exactly what parenting should be.” This idea that kids are born with as much “wisdom” as their parents is a New Age trope that needs to be dispensed with. Evolutionary biology gives the lie to such nonsense.
Car; Trueman’s book, ‘The rise and triumph of self’ is fascinating on the so-called culture of choice.
Really late to read this article but I thoroughly enjoyed it – and agreed with most of the points made. While I do appreciate the many choices I have in my life and situation, sometimes less is more.Thank you Giles.