I re-listened to Quiet by Susan Cain while at work today. It reminded me of a concept that I had never heard of before this book. It states that the idea of a culture of character being replaced by a culture of personality in the 1900s is from Warren Susman. Cain wrote,”In the Culture of Character, the ideal self was serious, disciplined, and honorable. What counted was not so much the impression one made in public as how one behaved in private. The word personality didn’t exist in English until the eighteenth century, and the idea of ‘having a good personality’ was not widespread until the twentieth. But when they embraced the Culture of Personality, Americans started to focus on how others perceived them.” (Pg. 21)
This part made me wonder if I live in the wrong time except that I like being able to vote. So, I can’t live in a time before women got the right to vote and other rights.
Ms. Cain shared that the industrial revolution encouraged this shift. I have a book titled Getting on in the World that I am curious to read in order to see if it focuses on character more than personality or charisma.