Download or read book Selfishness and Selflessness written by Linda L. Layne and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2020-04-09 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are said to be suffering a narcissism epidemic when the need for collective action seems more pressing than ever. The traits of Selfishness and selflessness address the ‘proper’ and ‘improper’ relationship between one’s self and others. The work they do during periods of social instability and cultural change is probed in this original, interdisciplinary collection. Contributions range from an examination of how these concepts animated the eighteenth-century anti-slavery campaigners to a dissection of the way middle-class mothers’ experiences illustrate gendered struggles over how much and to whom one is morally obliged to give.