Narcissism normalised in politics

Corporate control of party-based politics breeding creeping culture of self-entitlement

- by SHANE FUDGE

ACCORDING to Twenge and Campbell, authors of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in an Age of Entitlement, narcissism has seeped into the collective consciousness.

This wider influence and cultural status has also normalised the classic hallmarks of narcissism – self-entitlement, self-absorption, and the search for instant gratification – into less stigmatised and more widely accepted social norms.

Consequently, diminished levels of empathy, altruism and social responsibility have taken on a much more pervasive influence in our everyday lives.

Narcissism is generally considered to operate on a spectrum – i.e., we will all display some of these attitudes and behaviours at certain times and under certain conditions.

At the extreme end of this spectrum, however, a narcissist's principal concern will be solely concerned towards getting their own needs met at whatever cost. Not only will such people be driven by an excessive need for attention, admiration, and respect, but they will invariably act on inverse relationships to qualities such as empathy, compassion or understanding the needs of others.

To obtain these goals, narcissists will demonstrate an obsessive need to control the people around them, incorporating behaviours such as lying, gaslighting, deceit, manipulation, or even worse.

There is a plethora of contemporary research that suggests social media has been a strong influencing factor on the pervasiveness of cultural narcissism. It has been argued that social media platforms amplify our voices while the 24-hour news cycle bombards us with self-centred narratives.

In this environment, W. Campbell suggests that it has become increasingly difficult to maintain a balanced sense of who we are and how we relate to those around us.

A recent issue of