-------------------------------------------------------- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9819140/site/newsweek/ MSNBC.com Me, Inc. In her new book, sociologist Micki McGee explains why the only Americans helped by self-help books might be the authors who write self-help books. WEB EXCLUSIVE By Dan Brillman Newsweek Updated: 7:22 p.m. ET Oct. 26, 2005 Oct. 26, 2005 - At least two of the more than 4,500 "self-help" titles listed on Amazon.com claim to be "last self-help book you'll ever need." But in truth, the appetite for advice seems insatiable. The number of self-help books (including diet and fitness titles) in print has more than doubled since 1972 and the genre has expanded into TV with a boom in reality shows that promise body, mind or family makeovers. Indeed, the industry might even be circling back on itself with mocking advice like: "Throttle your inner child" or "Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life." Sociologist Micki McGee says that the modern self-help explosion mirrors an increasingly unstable work and political environment. In her recently-released book, "Self-Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life" ( Oxford ), McGee tracks and defines our obsession with self-improvement-and why it has less to do with being self-absorbed than with belabored workers that feel they must constantly re-invent themselves to survive in a competitive job market. According to McGee, fixing what ails us as a society is not "something that we can do by organizing a more hectic schedule or getting the most recent BlackBerry." McGee spoke to NEWSWEEK's Dan Brillman about why self-help is so addictive and what she believes are better solutions to the dilemmas of modern life. Excerpts: NEWSWEEK: Why don't self-help books help? Micki McGee: Self-help books propose individual solutions to problems that are social, economic and systemic in nature. So, while one can make changes or adjustments in one's individual life, as these books all advocate, if the larger social structures are operating against one's own individual efforts, you will be at best swimming upstream in making changes in your own life. That's essentially the problem. You use the phrase "the belabored self." What does that mean? People are belabored because there have been changes in the labor market that are fairly significant. There's no longer lifetime employment for people in really any arena. No longer even long-term jobs. [People] have to constantly be looking for the next job, in most cases. So many people operate now as free agents. You have to constantly be inventing and re-inventing yourself, trying to remain marketable in a rapidly changing economy and an increasingly competitive context. The self-help industry capitalizes on this and also attempts to meet the needs of people who are facing really a very challenging historical period. Do you think our culture drums into us the notion of constant self-dissatisfaction? It's been observed for a long time that America is a nation of "strivers"-a people who are bent on the invention and re-invention of self. It's one of the marvelous things about the American tradition-[that] you can work hard, study hard and get ahead. So, certainly that's part of our ethos, if such a thing exists. Benjamin Franklin was one of our original, and most popular self-help writers. Are there any self-help books you value or take something from? There are bits of advice to be taken from many of these books that are helpful. The problem is that as a genre [the books] lead people to believe that they can individually solve their problems by addressing one aspect of their life or another, or getting a new Palm Pilot, or learning to say no, or whatever it happens to be. It's not that easy. The thing about self-improvement literature that's very appealing is that people like to feel that they can take charge. And in fact, feeling like you have some control over various aspects of your life is enormously inspiring. But there are things that are outside your control. Assuming that everything is in the individual's control is one of the great fallacies of self-help literature. It's in every book: "You are in charge of everything in your life." Except for the 12-step books where God is in charge of them. So it's either yourself or God? [Laughs. ] That's right. That's very interesting. After [Hurricane] Katrina, Rick Warren and Dr. Phil were guests on Larry King. We have America's favorite psychologist and America's favorite pastor on how to cope with Katrina. Warren's answer was you can't count on anything-you have to put your faith in Jesus Christ. He's skipping over the idea that people help each other. What about community? On the other hand, his organization does build community. How are TV makeover shows emblematic of the self-help industry? People are feeling the necessity to put their best foot forward visually with a makeover phenomenon because they need to look young and fresh in the labor market. Ageism is a very real factor in the labor market. People won't speak about it, but certainly it exists. So you see people needing to sort of reinvent themselves and makeover television is part of that. So what is the solution? The solution is the kinds of political organizing and political activism that have been emerging over the past five years. The answers lie in people coming together, and addressing the fact that American families and American working people need some kind of social safety net to be rewoven. We have to work on that collectively. It's not something that we can do by organizing a more hectic schedule or getting the most recent device, so that we can do more things at the same time. Do you think that can happen? Absolutely. People are inventive, creative, resilient. People will come together. Many people have predicted that one of the consequences of Katrina is that there will be a shift, and that the traditional safety net will be mandated by the people of this country. People are up in arms about what they've seen. What we will need to make that happen is the political will that matches the moral will. [We've got to end] this constant requirement of reinventing the self and becoming the "CEO of Me, Inc." Your book seems to become a self-help book towards the end, ironically. I hope so. It would be my fervent hope that it would provide a [more] robust sort of help than what one finds in self-help literature on the whole. I'm not against the self-help industry. But the message that the industry brings to people is just mistaken. And people so want help and are so looking for ways to improve their lives to create a better world for their families, and their children, for their grandchildren, that it saddens me, and sometimes it makes me angry to see that the answers that are offered are so flimsy. © 2005 Newsweek, Inc. © 2005 MSNBC.com URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9819140/site/newsweek/ -- -------------------------------------------------------- http://cyberjournal.org "Apocalypse Now and the Brave New World" http://www.cyberjournal.org/cj/rkm/Apocalypse_and_NWO.html Posting archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?date=01Jan2006&batch=25&lists=newslog Subscribe to low-traffic list: •••@••.••• ___________________________________________ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
