Narcissism and Egocentrism as Concepts in Individual and Cultural Development

There has been a recent increase in the use of the concept of narcissism as an explanatory construct for a very broad range of psychological and cultural phenomena. Narcissism has been used to define a normal developmental psychological process (Freud, 1914; Federn, 1952; Kohut, 1971), forms of severe psychopathology (Freud, 1914; Kernberg, 1976; Kohut, 1977), and a major feature of contemporary culture (Lasch, 1978). While many of these attempts to utilize the concept of narcissism are provocative, they have led to considerable confusion and conceptual ambiguity. It is confusing to use the same concept to describe and/or account for a sense of well-being, a normal confusion and conceptual ambiguity. It is confusing to use the same concept to describe and/or account for a sense of well-being, a normal