Excellent, insightful essay David. Aside from his untimely death, I always wondered why Lasch's path breaking work just sort of disappeared. Sure he was absorbed into cultural theory, but he never found much currency in politics and economics. Economics, I understand, because it is primarily a elaborate pathological apology for neofeudalism. So if they observed it, they would hide it. Jappe's notion that capitalism makes us all part of the pathology and then devours itself is a revelation.

For 1000s of years narcissists were identified and exiled from the tribe, partially explaining why the pathology was thought to be so rare. And, modern psychologists still claim it is mostly untreatable. Plus, while recognizing it as an illness, our society functionally makes it more a virtue than a vice. Cheers for bringing this to our limited attention.