lovesouthernsocial.com

Narcissism is a behavior that manifests itself individually and collectively, bringing social and environmental consequences

Edited and resized image: Echo and Narcissus, painting by John William Waterhouse, is in the public domain

Narcissism, in the dictionary, means love for one's own image. The term was inspired by the myth of Narcissus and, in the 19th century, adopted by psychiatry. Later, narcissism became a psychoanalytic term used to describe narcissistic personality disorder.

Narcissism can be approached both from the point of view of the individual, as well as the culture as a whole. In the second case, it is seen as a consequence of the consumer society, in which the image of the individual, associated with what he consumes, is an object of spectacle. The spectacularization of image-based consumption is a cultural behavior that manifests itself globally and brings environmental consequences.

Narcissism and the Narcissus Myth

Edited and resized image of Milkoví is in the public domain

The myth of Narcissus, which inspired the term "narcissism", tells the story of Cefisus and Liriope's son, the most beautiful baby in the world, Narcissus. His mother, worried about her son's excessive beauty, consults Tiresias - a blind man who had the gift of predicting the future as a way to compensate for the loss of his eyesight - and he tells her that Narcissus could live very well, with the condition of that he could never see himself.

Narciso's mother, worried and believing what Tiresias told her, orders all the mirrors in the house to be broken and does everything for her son to grow up without ever seeing himself. But one day, Narcissus escapes his care and, in a beautiful forest, decides to drink water from a small lake. As soon as he leans over, he is surprised by what he sees: the image itself. "How beautiful! How perfect!" he thinks. And since then he was paralyzed: he didn't eat, he didn't drink, he was in love with himself. After that, Narcissus was never seen again and the gods turned him into a beautiful yellow and white flower.

The excessive importance given to the image of oneself is the main characteristic of Narcissus that serves as the basis for the idea of ​​narcissism - a term used in several areas of knowledge.

Narcissism in Psychoanalysis

Freud, neurologist who created psychoanalysis, introduced the concept of "narcissism" in his essay about narcissism (Zur einführung des narzißmus, in German). In it, Freud explores unconscious aspects of the mind and quotes Paul Nacke, the first person to use the term "narcissism" in a study of sexual perversions.

Freud says that Paul Nacke chose the term narcissism to describe "the attitude of a person who treats his own body in the same way that the body of a sex object is commonly treated" - and adds that everyone has some level of narcissism in their development . But he complements Paul Nacke's analysis and differentiates types of narcissism.

In primary narcissism, children and young people believe they are superior and invest all their libido in themselves. However, over time, this libido is directed outwards, towards objects other than the individual. In secondary narcissism, after the libido is projected outwards, individuals direct it back towards themselves, which results in adults displaced from society, who lack the capacity to love and be loved.

Narcissism requires an intense self-preservation of the image (in the sense of what the individual represents to himself, not necessarily physically). The slightest threat to the idealized self-image becomes a reason for shame, guilt and defensiveness.

Consumption, narcissism and the environment

Viktor Theo image in Unsplash

The current socioeconomic model has as one of the elements of its maintenance a society marked by consumerism, in which the individual prevails over collective causes. The centrality of the individual, which is based on self-fulfillment based on consumption, despises relations and collective ideals; and it makes the being focus on its own advantage, keeping in contact with the other only as an instrument of confirmation of the self. In this scenario, there is no real exchange of interest for the other.

In this way, consumption has created a culturally narcissistic society. However, although cultural narcissism manifests itself in adulthood, it is not characterized as secondary narcissism, but as a regression to primary narcissism, to the infant-juvenile stage.

The individual who depends on consumption for self-fulfillment, in addition to being anxious, insecure and unhappy, is alienated. By resorting to compulsive shopping to fill emotional need, due to the fear of abandonment and emptiness, he ends up moving away from the relationship with people and with the environment in which he lives.

In this sense, environmental causes, which can be understood as collective causes, are causes neglected by the society of cultural narcissism. Animal rights and social impacts of environmental origin are, in most cases, taken into account only when they bring financial return or when they manifest themselves as a form of confirmation of the self. That's why cultural narcissism is one of the cogs in the motor of consumerism and, consequently, an enhancer of environmental devastation.

Better understand the relationship between consumption and environmental impacts in the article "What is an environmental footprint?" and adopt conscious consumption to escape the pattern of narcissistic behavior.