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5 min readYou and Me and Mr. Self-Esteem
The idea that feeling good about yourself is the key to a successful life seems so natural today that it's hard to imagine it wasn't always there. But as Radiolab producers Matt Kilti and Heather Radke discovered, the self-esteem movement has a surprisingly recent origin—and it can be traced back to one man: John Vasconcellos, a California state assemblyman who spent decades trying to convince the world that self-esteem was a "social vaccine" that could cure everything from drug abuse to teen pregnancy to crime.
The Making of a Self-Esteem Crusader
John Vasconcellos was born in 1932 into a strict Catholic family in San Jose. The religion he grew up with emphasized original sin and self-denial—he was taught never to think well of himself. The story goes that when he ran for class president in eighth grade, he lost by one vote: his own. He had voted for the other person.
Vasconcellos went on to become valedictorian at Santa Clara University and Santa Clara Law, then worked as a successful lawyer before winning a seat in the California State Assembly in 1966. But shortly after his election, he had a complete nervous breakdown. As his friend Mitch Saunders described it, Vasconcellos had been following a script his whole life—from his family, his church, society—and suddenly realized he didn't want to live by it anymore.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:44) **Episode Setup: The Personal Problem of Self-Esteem** - Hosts Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser introduce producers Matt Kilti and Heather Radkey, who debate their own relationships with self-esteem and validation.
- 2 (04:11) **The Origin Story: John Vasconcellos** - The story traces back to one man, California politician John "Vasco" Vasconcellos, who became the "Johnny Appleseed of Self-Esteem."
- 3 (06:13) **Vasco's Catholic Upbringing and Self-Loathing** - John was raised in a strict Catholic family that taught him to never think well of himself, fetishizing self-loathing and original sin.
- 4 (09:09) **The Nervous Breakdown and Esalen** - After winning a seat in the California State House in 1966, John suffered a spectacular nervous breakdown, feeling his identity come apart.
- 5 (10:41) **Esalen and the Human Potential Movement** - Esalen was a place to shed the belief that you are fundamentally flawed and realize your "true self."
- 6 (15:38) **The Encounter Group: Radical Authenticity** - Rogers' method was the "encounter group," where strangers would gather for days to be radically honest and vulnerable.
- 7 (20:55) **Vasco's Transformation and Political Mission** - John transformed from a buttoned-up lawyer into a wild, expressive man, and he wanted to share this liberation with the world.
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Show Notes
Most of us spend some part of our lives feeling bad about ourselves and wanting to feel better. But this preoccupation is a surprisingly new one in the history of the world, and can largely be traced back to one man: a rumpled, convertible-driving California state representative named John Vasconcellos who helped spark a movement that took over schools, board rooms, and social-service offices across America in the 1990s. This week, we look at the rise and fall of the self-esteem movement and ask: is it possible to raise your self-esteem? And is trying to do so even a good idea?
Special thanks to big thank you to the University of California, Santa Barbara Library for use of audio material from their Humanistic Psychology Archives and to their staff for helping located so many audio recordings.
EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Heather Radke and Matt Kielty
Produced by - Matt Kietly
Original music and sound design by - Jeremy S. Bloom and Matt Kielty
Flute performance and compositions by - Ben Batchelder
Voiceover work by - Dann Fink and David Gebel
Mixing help by - Jeremy S. Bloom
Fact-checking by - Anna Pujol-Mazzini and Angely Mercado
and Edited by - Pat Walters
EPISODE CITATIONS:
Articles -
- UCSB Humanistic Psychology Archive (https://zpr.io/HfVjUmvcVevE)
Books -
- Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us (https://zpr.io/eGRyqz9zNQHu) by Will Storr. Counterpoint, 2018.
- A Liberating Vision (https://zpr.io/tJn7BR5m84fv) by Vasconcellos, John. Impact Publishers, Inc., 1979
- The Therapeutic State (https://zpr.io/tJn7BR5m84fv) by Nolan, James, Jr. NYU Press, 1998
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