This book develops a psychoanalytic theory of political correctness and the pristine self
which is defined as a self touched by nothing but love. It explores the damage that political
correctness can do to social order. Applications include the breakdown of social capital the
financial crisis and Occupy Wall Street. Long an issue for conservatives alarm over political
correctness has now spread to the liberal side of the political spectrum. As Schwartz argues
all have reason to be concerned. The psychology that underlies political correctness has the
potential to be extremely destructive to social organization on every level. Schwartz discusses
the primitive roots of political correctness and through the use of case studies shows its
capacity for ruination. The book focuses on a transformation in the idea of the self and
specifically the rise of the pristine self. The problem is that in truth the world does not
love us. This puts the pristine self at war with objective reality.
