quiet-the-power-of-introverts-in-a-world-that-cant-stop-talking-susan-cain

The idea of wrapping their social
anxieties in the neat package of a psychological
complex appealed to many
Americans. The Inferiority Complex became
an all-purpose explanation for
problems in many areas of life, ranging
from love to parenting to career. In
1924, Collier’s ran a story about a woman
who was afraid to marry the man
she loved for fear that he had an IC and
would never amount to anything.
Another popular magazine ran an article
called “Your Child and That Fashionable
Complex,” explaining to moms
what could cause an IC in kids and how
to prevent or cure one. Everyone had an
IC, it seemed; to some it was, paradoxically
enough, a mark of distinction.
Lincoln, Napoleon, Teddy Roosevelt,
Edison, and Shakespeare—all had
suffered from ICs, according to a 1939
Collier’s article. “So,” concluded the
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