Product Description
Why doesn’t self-help help? Cultural critic Micki McGee puts forward this paradoxical question as she looks at a world where the market for self-improvement products–books, audiotapes, and extreme makeovers–is exploding, and there seems to be no end in sight. Rather than seeing narcissism at the root of the self-help craze, as others have contended, McGee shows a nation relying on self-help culture for advice on how to cope in an increasingly volatile and competitive work world. Self-Help, Inc. reveals how makeover culture traps Americans in endless cycles of self-invention and overwork as they struggle to stay ahead of a rapidly restructuring economic order. A lucid and fascinating treatment of the modern obsession with work and self-improvement, this lively book will strike a chord with its acute diagnosis of the self-help trap and its sharp suggestions for how we can address the alienating conditions of modern work and family life.
Self Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life
The best part of the book comes at the very beginning, when author McGee takes us through a history of self-help. Coaches and gurus often associate “spirituality” with “prosperity.” I must admit I’ve wondered myself about parallels with early Calvinism and I was intriguted by McGee’s thorough review.
I also like the premise of the book. Why has self-help become so popular — not just in the US, but world-wide? But I had some concerns about the way the question was answered.
First, self-help is a very broad genre. If you think about it, any how-to book can be considered self-help, even “how to plant a greener lawn” or “how to de-clutter your home.” So why not have books like “How to cope with difficult people” or “How to find a job you want.
Second, McGee chose an archeological method to evaluate self-help. She chose a collection of texts and analyzed the contents. This method makes sense if say, you turn up a collection of documents on a dig. It’s the way many scholars evaluate documents associated with the founding of world religions.
But, as religious scholarship demonstrates, these methods can lead to distorted interpretations. Many scholars emphasize that contemporary readers of the current Bible would have recognized stories as myths and legends, not as absolute truth.
Since many readers of self-help are alive and accessible, why not ask them how they read and apply self-help to their lives? I believe many readers of self-help read selectively and skeptically. I think readers embark on affirmations and create treasure maps in a playful sense of fun. I don’t think most readers study these books with the author’s intensity.
And I think most readers (and certainly publishers) recognize the importance of packaging. These days, we’ve been conditioned by advertising to apply the puffery discount as we make choices and as we read. My own ebook “9 Steps to a new career” sells many more copies with a new title promising a 21-day “extreme career makeover.”
Third, some of the author’s examples seem misleading. For instance, McGee criticizes Sinetar’s definition of “right livelihood” in her best-selling book, Do What You Love: The Money Will Follow.
Actually, Sinetar is one of the most grounded, down-to-earth writers around. She does refer to spirituality and vocation. But that’s not woo-woo. In other books and tapes, she’s very open about her commitment to Catholicism. An earlier book was about being a monk or mystic in the world.
If you read Do What You Love with care, her message really is, “Do what you love: the money will follow, but not very much or very fast.” I’ve recommended her tapes of To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love and The Mentor’s Spirit.
McGee also criticizes Cheryl Richardson’s appearance on Oprah. Cheryl’s coach-y solutions don’t seem to help an overworked, underpaid mom who holds dowon two jobs. True! But I find many coaches have trouble explaining that their approaches are targeted to a specific readership segment.
As I tell my own clients, you need to be at a certain comfort level before you can begin to consider a career change. When you’re a few months away from welfare, you need to get back to basics. The harried mother won’t benefit from Richardson’s techniques…but she also won’t benefit from fashion makeovers, power yoga classes or psychoanalysis.
And that brings me to another point: I’ve been critical of some self-help but I would also ask, “What’s the alternative? And what’s the harm?” People do face problems that their parents and grandparents never confronted. Mainstream psychology has offered good solutions but also perpetuates ideas that are not backed by research. Carol Tavris has written that popular theories of anger (“let it out”) are not accurate. Others have criticized popular mainstream trauma practices (“relive the experience”). Read Annie Paul’s book, The Cult of Personality, to learn how psychologists, corporations and courts use tests that have no more validity than horoscopes.
Finally, McGee associates current interest in self-help with economic downturns. But in my experience, most self-help readers come from upscale, educated backgrounds. I believe it was Pascal Boyer who suggested that New Age is the first religion to be created in an era of prosperity. Readers, coaching clients and Tony Robbins followers want to know how to make good lives better (although they may not use those phrases consciously).
Bottom line: We need a solid analytical discussion of self-help. McGee offers a starting point. I’ll be interested to see more.
Rating: 3 / 5
This book isn’t the one you turn to when you want an extreme makeover. It’s the book you turn to when you want to figure out why you want an extreme makeover to begin with.
Self-Help, Inc. sets out to examine how and why the current self-help culture was created and what its impact is on individuals and society — and it boldly hits its target dead center.
Dense with facts, history and insight, Self-Help, Inc. examines the movement of self improvement. How did the idea of making oneself better not only start, but become en vogue? What is its impact on the individual, society and the workplace? How does the idea and history of self-improvement differ between men and women (which, as a woman, I found incredibly fascinating)? Where has self-help culture come and where is it going? And what is the long-term advantages and disadvantages of living in a society that puts such a high value on a nearly impossible to achieve “extreme makeover”? Micki McGee, Ph.D., uses her sociology expertise and many years as an NYU professor to answer these questions and more. And she does so with eloquence and intelligence, making this a truly fascinating and illuminating read.
Rating: 5 / 5
Wow, this book rocked my world and greatly inflenced my own work as an dance/theater/art maker. McGee wizely points to the underlying currents of personal darkness that result not from our relationships, our schools, our government, but rather from our hyper-competitive economy. This book made me question the fundamental paradigm that runs my own life/how I cope with life and left me in a challenged yet honest and hopeful place.
Rating: 5 / 5
A warning to those who are at risk of losing themselves in self-help…. which in balance is a complement to living well … but in excess is just as bad as any other addiction. Self-help is a form of refuge for those who are seeking family, have an orphan complex, or who don’t know the difference between living and escapism in psuedo-life. There are moments when one needs to be intensive in their healing but eventually one must come back to the world and be in life. It is no different than people who escape by hobbies, religion, work, etc. Help yourself with a dose of self-help but don’t binge on it either. A very telling account of the state of affairs in human culture – the therapist replaces the priest and self-help movements take over the church. Lost souls still congregate.
Self-help also has its dark side: a culture of balme, unlimited thinking promoted to embark in action without concern for the consequence on others, a magical thinking that allows one to coast, and of course … the relentless use of double speak in self-help circles. Many self-help circles cross the line whereby they give permission to go after what one desires even if it may mean some unhappy consequences for innocent people. Do not throw out your sense of common sense – ever! And these self-help mastros are very convincing. A piece of advice: follow the money… that’s the guidance that help break the scandal of Watergate. FOLLOW THE MONEY…. and choose a self-help course because you really want to do it and it is an adjunct to your life, not a replacement. See lesson from the est movement … and never allow your own independant thoughts to be replaced by another with an agenda, often monetary.
Rating: 5 / 5
Love this book! It addresses the mysterious question of who does all the grunt work in the lives of so-called “self-made men (people)?” McGee says it is the “belabored self” who is busy raising kids, doing laundry, and cleaning bathrooms. With a sociologist’s eye for larger social dynamics, McGee deconstructs the self-help industry as a tool of oppression to maintain the status quo (and does this well).
Lose your job? Don’t complain or be a “victim” but “buck-up” and talk nonsense about how it is the greatest thing that ever happened to you! Lose your marriage? Don’t wallow in self-pity but think positive! Feel hopeless? Don’t worry the “universe” has a plan for you if you can just focus on abundance. This is a splendid critique of one of the most vapid American phenomena- the idea that you “invent” yourself. People like Tom Peters should be clubbed unconscious with this book.
Rating: 5 / 5