The essence of narcissism is an excessive self-centeredness and focus on your own needs that's often at the expense of others. This is essentially also how a capitalist society operates: profit is what drives production, and what is profitable doesn't necessarily have to benefit the whole of society, and especially not the workers. Self-interest in the form of profit is at the center, the fact that this may come at the expense of others because they may be exploited by the capitalist, or that it harms the environment that we live in simply doesn't factor into that equation.

Here is a scientific article that compares the levels of narcissism of those who grew up in a capitalist society vs those who didn't, and the results support the notion that capitalism promotes narcissism:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783345

Narcissism scores are higher in individualistic cultures compared with more collectivistic cultures. However, the impact of sociocultural factors on narcissism and self-esteem has not been well described. Germany was formerly divided into two different social systems, each with distinct economic, political and national cultures, and was reunified in 1989/90. Between 1949 and 1989/90, West Germany had an individualistic culture, whereas East Germany had a more collectivistic culture. The German reunification provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate the impact of sociocultural and generational differences on narcissism and self-esteem. In this study, we used an anonymous online survey to assess grandiose narcissism with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) to assess grandiose and vulnerable aspects of narcissism, and self-esteem with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) in 1,025 German individuals. Data were a***yzed according to age and place of birth. Our results showed that grandiose narcissism was higher and self-esteem was lower in individuals who grew up in former West Germany compared with former East Germany. Further a***yses indicated no significant differences in grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism or self-esteem in individuals that entered school after the German reunification (≤ 5 years of age in 1989). In the middle age cohort (6–18 years of age in 1989), significant differences in vulnerable narcissism, grandiose narcissism and self-esteem were observed. In the oldest age cohort (> 19 years of age in 1989), significant differences were only found in one of the two scales assessing grandiose narcissism (NPI). Our data provides empirical evidence that sociocultural factors are associated with differences in narcissism and self-esteem.

So tldr: yes it does.

Also with the advent of neoliberalism, which has forced us all to become "entrepreneurs" (by being forced to "invest" in our own "human capital" through student loans, for example), it could be expected that this would come with an increase in narcissism, and this also seems to be true (from the same article):

Narcissism is increasing in modern Western societies and this has been referred to as a “narcissism epidemic” 1. The endorsement rate for the statement “I am an important person” has increased from 12% in 1963 to 77–80% in 1992 in adolescents 2. Recently published books feature more self-centered language compared with earlier publications. For instance, the personal pronouns I and me are used more frequently than we and us 3. Moreover, the use of narcissistic phrases such as “I am the greatest” has increased between 1960 and 2008 4. The rise of narcissism is also reflected in more self-focused song lyrics 5 and a stronger orientation towards fame in TV shows 6. These observations suggest that narcissistic expressions within individualistic cultures have become more frequent.

Scores of self-reported grandiose narcissism, assessed by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), have increased 7, 8. Twenge and Campbell reported a significant increase in NPI scores in a cross-temporal meta-analysis of American college students between 1979 and 2006 9. NPI scores were 30% higher in the most recent cohort compared with the first cohort. Further a***yses between 2002 and 2007 excluded any confounding effects of ethnicity. Taken together with other studies, these findings confirmed that NPI scores are increasing over time in American college students (10, but also see 13

I remember oldheads in Germany talking about visiting East Germany when the wall was still up or right afterwards and saying people there were way nicer to you even though you were a stranger than in the capitalist West

yea

Yes

When everybody's poor and oppressed as much as each other by the government you kinda become like that

Is this what you take out of this article

Nah I was just replying to your comment

East Germany was on a per capita basis the 26th richest country in the world even in 1990. Stop capping. ~150 countries were poorer

Think it’s just ridiculous to assume that a change in economic structure would eliminate the idea of Self interest

That’s just how people have survived for 60,000 years. We’re always motivated by self interest and sometimes those interests align with the self interests of others. Then we get to cooperation to achieve common goals.

Self interest and selfishness are cornerstones of biological life. It’s how we survive.

Yes

Define self-interest. If you tried your Instagram-culture "self-interest" bullshit in a hunter and gatherer tribe they would f***ing stab you in the back with the next spear or leave your dumb ass alone in the forest so you can fend for yourself.

Even in later eras your ideology wouldn't fly

self interest is making sure you and your family are in the best place to survive and succeed

doesn't matter if you're in a hunter gatherer society or in a modern city. everyone wants the same core thing. everyone is driven by self interest.

those people are farming because they want food to feed themselves and their family and that was the only way to get it

they're still driven by self interest lol

SELF-interest and FAMILY don't fly, otherwise it is not SELF-interest

Now consider that a TRIBE is just an extended family, very much unlike today's nuclear families, and your entire argument flies out the window

No s*** people want to survive. This doesn't mean they HAVE to be capitalist profit-chasing psychopaths about it - this way-of-living didn't even make sense for the vast majority of mankind

Wow, people need food to survive????? Tell me more f***ing Einstein

"People need food to survive so self-interest = my idea of capitalism = good"
This is what your logic breaks down to lmao

self interest literally means what interests you lol

people don't care about their family? a hunter gatherer man doesn't care about his offspring and people carrying his children?

family falls under self interest. I will save my family before saving anyone else. I will give my son the cure to a deadly disease instead of someone else. that's selfishness. that's natural.

Explain what this has to do with the capitalist profit-driven mode of production.

It wouldn’t eliminate it but it wouldn’t promote it. And self interest is not necessarily narcissism.

I'm just arguing that self interest is a core part of human nature so it will be there regardless of economic structure.

self interest isn't promoted by capitalism, self interest is what created it.

So why did capitalism only appear in the late 17th century if it has been the NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS since the dawn of man as you claim, genius?