Self Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life
by Micki McGee
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Book Summary Information
Author: Micki McGeeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-01
ISBN: 0195337263
Number of pages: 308
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Self Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life
Book Review: The Slave Behind the Curtain of the "Self-Made Man"
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of Self Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life
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 Books
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