The Problem With Fixing Yourself by Josh Strupp

Self-help is everywhere—books, podcasts, seminars—and whether we realize it or not, most of us are consuming it. But behind the advice to “optimize your life” lies something more insidious: a genre that often blames individuals for systemic problems, often profiting off our insecurities. This thesis examines American self-help literature—its rise, its authors, and its cultural influence—through the lens of a Goodreads dataset.