Abstract
Brexit and the election of Trump both relied on a particular type of nationalistic appeal to collective narcissism — an exaggerated emotional belief that the nation’s greatness is being undermined by other nations and other people. This tendency is catered to by appeals to make the nation great again by shutting borders and embracing isolationism while scapegoating refugees and immigrants. The rise of jingoistic leaders like Trump, Putin, and Erdogan can be explained by such appeals. But China, which has long suffered feelings of national humiliation is reacting in quite different ways that embrace globalism, even while rejecting multiculturalism. This paper seeks to tie these developments together as well as show how collective narcissism and a particular strain of individual narcissism among leaders can feed into one another as well as fuel leaders’ heightened feelings of privilege and entitlement leading to conspicuous consumption and bullying.
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Recommended Citation
Belk, Russell
(2017)
"Collective Narcissism, Anti-Globalism, Brexit, Trump, and the Chinese Juggernaut,"
Markets, Globalization & Development Review:
Vol. 2:
No.
3, Article 2.
DOI: 10.23860/MGDR-2017-02-03-02
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/mgdr/vol2/iss3/2
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Author Bio
Russell Belk is York University Distinguished Research Professor and Kraft Foods Canada Chair in Marketing, Schulich School of Business, York University. He is past president of the International Association of Marketing and Development, and is a fellow, past president, and Film Festival co-founder in the Association for Consumer Research. He has received the Paul D. Converse Award, two Fulbright Fellowships, and the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Consumer Research Award for Long Term Contribution to Consumer Research and has over 600 publications. He recently published, co-wrote, edited, or co-edited Consumer Culture Theory: Research in Consumer Behavior (Emerald 2017), Review of Marketing Research: Qualitative Marketing Research (Emerald 2017), Qualitative Consumer and Marketing Research (Sage 2013), The Routledge Companion to Identity and Consumption (Routledge 2013), and The Routledge Companion to the Digital Consumer (Routledge 2013). He is currently co-editing Romantic Gift-giving (Routledge) and Handbook on the Sharing Economy (Sage).