Experts and Cultural Narcissism: Relations in the Early 21st Century

Abstract

Local and global dependencies and interactions between individuals, groups, and institutions are becoming increasingly opaque and risky. This is due to increased importance of highly complex abstract systems created and supported in order to maintain of transport, communications, finance, energy, media, security infrastructure, as well as social and cultural institutions. These systems require the knowledge and skills of experts. Professionals that not only satisfy identified needs, but also create new and thereby contribute to the development of phenomenon of the cultural narcissism. The aim of the book is to discuss relations between experts and mass narcissism, on the background of shaping the knowledge societies and knowledge-based economies, and their transformations towards the societies and economies based on creativity and wisdom. Undertaken analysis is contributing to sociology of expertise and intervention by indicating four selected contemporary issues: dilemmas of the development of knowledge society; selection between trust substitutes and its reconstruction methods; transformations of social stratification; and choice of the development path.