The Best Seller as an Indicator of Societal Narcissism
Is There a Trend
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6370812 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lynn S Mullins, Richard E Kopelman (0000-0002-4404-6196) |
| Year | 1984 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 720 |
| Publication date | 1984-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Public Opinion Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-362X • E-ISSN: 1537-5331 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1086/268878 |
| OpenAlex | W2129313469 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 4 |
A content analysis of the subject matter of nonfiction best sellers was performed to assess changes in societal narcissism. A number of content categories were identified, a priori, as indicative of narcissism, conceptually defined in terms of self-absorption: e.g., concern for psychic self-improvement, mysticism, and an interest in health, physical fitness, diet, and sexuality. An unobtrusive measure, the Dewey Decimal Classification number, was used to sort best-selling titles into narcissistic and non-narcissistic groups for the years 1950 through 1979. As hypothesized, societal narcissism, as reflected in popular reading preferences, increased over the three-decade period
Content (measure theory · Human sexuality · Narcissism · Political science · Psychic · Reading (process · Sociology · sort · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1990 - 2016 (27) |
| Highly cited | No |