The Great Self-Esteem Craze of the Late 20th Century
06/06/2017
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Here’s an amusing excerpt from the book Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed And What It’s Doing To Us by Will Storr about how California legislator John Vasconcelos launched the great Self-Esteem fad of the late 20th Century:
‘It was quasi-religious’: the great self-esteem con

In the 1980s, Californian politician John Vasconcellos set up a task force to promote high self-esteem as the answer to all social ills. But was his science based on a lie?

Will Storr

Saturday 3 June 2017 06.00 EDT

… Vasco was livid. The media, he complained, were “terrible, cynical, sceptical and cheap”. Their problem? “Low self-esteem.”

Meanwhile, something remarkable seemed to be happening. The response from the people of California had been great. Between its announcement and the task force’s first public meeting in March 1987, the office received more than 2,000 calls and letters, and almost 400 applications to volunteer. More than 300 people came forward to speak in support of self-esteem at public hearings across the state.

And here’s a more technical article from New York:
How the Self-Esteem Craze Took Over America

And why the hype was irresistible.

By Jesse Singal

May 30, 2017 8:00 am

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