Increase in selfishness?

[SilkRoad]

Do you think that people are generally becoming more selfish, narcissistic, etc than they were in past generations?

What examples would you use for yea or nay?

I'd say society is encouraging an increasingly harmful me-first attitude, more than in the past, but I'm too lazy to start giving you examples right now.

 

[ajblaise]

Selfishness is a luxury.

The whole town doesn't have to pull together to survive anymore. Families don't stay in the same community forever anymore, kids move away. We can economically support this new individuality.

But let's say we have a massive long-lasting depression... we'll be forced back in those tight-knit community settings. Some people might view that as a good thing, I don't really.

 

[Lux]

I think people have always been this way. I think every era thinks of themselves as lacking or being worse in comparison to the past. And the next generation is "worse."

I realize this quote is about children but I think it is interesting because every generation thinks that the next generation is worse than they were. But really I just think we're all human.

"Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."
-Socrates

 

[SilkRoad]

Ok, before I actually get back to work, I did think of an example I wanted to cite. I guess this is about “entitlement.”

I live in the UK but I suspect things are similar these days in America, etc. It seems to me that these “celebrity” shows, X-Factor, etc etc etc make people think that they are entitled to fame, fortune, adoration etc without actually being talented, let alone being good people, sometimes even let alone being good-looking! Ok, thinking you’re entitled to everything just for being good-looking is just as bad or worse, but judging from the level of talent at the auditions for these shows there are enormous numbers of people who think “I’m not smart, I’m not talented, but hey, I deserve to be rich and famous too!”

I’m not sure this is “selfishness” per se, I would call it narcissism or a distorted sense of entitlement. The people who become “celebrities” simply because they behave badly in public, get their boobs increased ten sizes, are married to/related to someone else famous, etc seem to think they are entitled to do whatever after that. And the response of society only encourages them. I work in publishing and there are so many celebs who are like “hm…I think I’ll write a children’s book now. It’s easy, and I want to, and I can, because I can do anything.” Of course, the children’s book (or their concept, if they don’t write it themselves) is probably total crap, but some publishing house will snap it up anyway because it will sell.

I think this may be slightly off topic with what I originally posted, but also slightly on topic…It’s a general societal outlook which I’m not sure existed to such a degree in the past.

 

[cafe]

I am not saying there isn't a trend that direction, but I do think that the groups you mention are sort of self-selecting.

I mean, the only way being famous would appeal to me would be if I wrote something really great or accomplished something amazing in the area of social-justice because that would truly be worth doing and putting up with the inconvenience of notoriety.

Rich, on the other hand . . . I could live with being quietly rich.

 

[SilkRoad]

Rich, on the other hand . . . I could live with being quietly rich.

Hehe, you have a point there.

It does seem to be a widespread trend though. Surveys in the UK have shown that the top choice of career for a majority of young girls is "glamour model" - a model who poses topless for Page 3 of the papers. One of the top role models for these girls is Jordan/Katie Price, who you may or may not have heard of in other parts of the world, but she's famous for having been a glamour model, being involved in various scandals, having had a notorious divorce, appearing on celebrity TV shows...that's about it.

Apparently the younger generation is being conditioned to want a "career" that isn't based on any genuine personal accomplishment or moral worth. It's based on being famous for notoriety and looking like a porn star.

 

[miss fortune]

There've been people behaving badly like that in about any generation- and thier scandals were well known in their day (read Decameron, by Bocaccio if you have any doubts )- it's just that behaving like idiots is more democratic today thanks to mass media- you no longer have to be rich or well connected to do so!

Selfishness isn't necissarily a bad thing- making sure that you have what you need is basic human instinct- I'm not sure that you're human if you don't have that drive. Greed, however, is not necissarily good- take what you need to be comfortable, but share after that point. I don't think that those principles have changed over the years- even the serfs working in the fields tried to save up what they needed before sharing- and the royalty and nobles were still just as greedy than as the worst reality show contestant is now!

 

[Charmed Justice]

Apparently the younger generation is being conditioned to want a "career" that isn't based on any genuine personal accomplishment or moral worth. It's based on being famous for notoriety and looking like a porn star.

Has Western society become more vain, or did mass media just give us a mirror? As Lux said, people have always been this way. Every generation has seen the failure of good character in the generations that follow. And of course, vanity doesn't have to be about a beauty standard(which has increased), but I'd prefer it, to say, the vanity of war(which seems to have decreased).

 

[sculpting]

I would suggest observing how collectivist vs individualized a society is then expect to see the trends towards selfishness either less or more based upon what the society accepts.

 

[SilkRoad]

Has Western society become more vain, or did mass media just give us a mirror?

Very good point, a lot of our perception of reality is shaped by the media.

 

[JoSunshine]

Do you think that people are generally becoming more selfish, narcissistic, etc than they were in past generations?

I strongly believe the answer to this question to be yes. It strikes me that a large number of people not only want but feel entitled to things they have neither worked for or can offer others. Example: Regular looking guy with a descent job but not rich with a so-so personality and of average intellegence feels he DESERVES a brilliant, super-model who is a great house-keeper and has a great sense of humor and an awsome personality. Why? Because he has a warped perception of himself due to culteral and societal influances.

Here is a pretty good article/interview about it:
The Narcissism Epidemic – by Joel Pitney

 

[disregard]

In the United States, at least, there is a grotesque me-first attitude that one cannot escape. You see it on a small scale, like when you get in your car to see how aggressively and dangerously people drive or when you walk your dog and see shit that hasn't been picked up. You see it on a large scale, like when the economy has gone to shit because of the greed of the people in charge. Excessive selfishness permeates every aspect of American culture and makes my mind sigh in exhaustion at what else destruction it must observe.

 

[Eckhart]

Words as "goody two-shoes" (I hope translation is correct, I looked up at online dictionary for "Gutmensch" in german) are actually meant as an insult in our society. One doesn't have to think far to see that it goes in that way as the OP says.

Question for me is, were people like that all the time but just now they can live in that "luxury" (as ajblaise says in my opinion correctly) in contrast to the past, or is it just a consequence of permanent manipulation of mass media, politics and / or todays capitalism.

People get teached from little age already that if you want not to end up like a total fail in your life, you always have to use your elbows against the others and be one of the best, or you end up as one of the ones without a job or a job paid with a wage which doesn't even suffice for living (1€ per hour is reality here already in Germany), and gets increased by social payings, which seems equivalent to the meaning you aren't worth any more. On the same time mass media seems to suggest that materialism is the ultimate good one has to achieve.

Politics and mass media encourage this behavior everywhere, so it is no wonder many people act more selfish (id est more selfish than would be necessary). There is just the question wether this is the real cause or it is actually human nature which most people cannot / do not want to overcome, and so politics and mass media is just a mirror of human nature. More easily to describe with the problem of Chicken or egg being first.

 

[William K]

How do you differentiate between being selfish and being inconsiderate? Some dictionaries consider them synonyms...

 

[kiddykat]

I think so yes.. depending on where we live. From where I'm from, definitely. Much of the trend stems from the show "Laguna Beach."

That's why I question certain aspects of society, and why we're taught to think a certain way, because a lot of it's based on the premises of certain societal values that have great influence on individual, personal lives.

I also question certain aspects of psychology, since it's also sociopolitically related. For instance, one of the famous psychologists who publishes his books on self-esteem, Nathaniel Branden, who graduated with a Ph.d. from an unaccreditted program, was a major Objectivist party leader, a close (fbuddy) friend of Ayn Rand. Most of his philosophy stems from the idea that human beings are innately selfish and that we shouldn't feel guilty for being that way.. That's a value that I see isn't as growth promoting for society, if we're talking about people working together collectively for a happier tomorrow.

 

[disregard]

I think so yes.. depending on where we live. From where I'm from, definitely. Much of the trend stems from the show "Laguna Beach."

I think the popularity of the show Laguna Beach was due to a demand for it. The culture that worshipped what Laguna Beach put on display was already there.