How The Self-Esteem Craze Took Over America

Jesse Singal starts her article by telling about “The Lovables in the Kingdom of Self-Esteem”, a book published in 1991, that had as a central message the fact that each and every child is very very special. It was only one out of the numerous books published in the ‘80s and ‘90s, during the self-esteem craze. The author also tells about class exercises meant to raise the children’s level of self-esteem.

“During this span, just about everyone, from CEOs to welfare recipients, was told — often by psychologists with serious credentials — that improving their self-esteem could, as The Lovables put it, unlock the gates to more happiness, better performance, and every kind of success imaginable. This was both a personal argument and a political one: The movement, which had its epicenter in California, argued that increasing people’s self-esteem could reduce crime, teen pregnancy, and a host of other social ills — even pollution.”

A key element of understanding how the whole craze began is looking back at a Californian politician who was convinced — though little scientific evidence existed — that self-esteem could solve most of the world’s problems. The guy created the California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility.

What happened with the self-esteem movement is the epitome of confusion between correlation and causation, and it may sound funny up to the point when you realize the monster it gave birth to, which is the self-help, self-improvement b.s. that is still with us to this day. This way of thinking, of taking a concept, boiling it down to an oversimplified message that anyone can relate to, and then serving it to the public — is still happening, just not with self-esteem (because science is catching up), but nowadays with grit.