Christopher Lasch
THE NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY OF
OUR TIME
The survival of any form of human society depends on two
things, the production of the necessities of life and the reproduction
of the labor force itself. Reproduction includes not merely the propa–
gation of the species but also the care and nuture of the young -
education, training, discipline, and cultural transmission.
In the early days of industrial capitalism,
th~
work of socializa–
tion took place largely in the family. The capitalist attempted to
supervise his workers' lives on the job, but his control ended when the
workers left the factory at closing time. Even when Henry Ford
established a "Sociological Departmenr" in the Ford Motor Works in
1914, he saw the supervision of the workers' private lives merely as a
means ofmaking the men sober, thrifty , industrious producers. Only
a handful of employers at this time understood that the success of the
mass production economy now required not only the capitalistic
organization of production but the organization of consumption and
leisure as well.
"Mass production," said the Boston department store magnate
Edward A. Filene in 1919, "demands the education of the masses; the
masses must learn to behave like human beings in a mass production
world ....They must achieve, not mere literacy, but culture." In
other words, the mass production of commodities in ever-increasing
abundance demands a mass market to absorb them.
Today the "education" of the masses has proved to be one of the
most important elements not only in the emergence of an economy
based on mass consumption but in the transformation of the family.
In the course of bringing "culture" to the masses, the advertising
industry, the school, and the mental health and welfare services have
