Positive thinking can make success feel like the only acceptable option. But humility allows for grace

‘Saint Augustine wrote that humility was the foundation of all other virtues,’ writes Jackie Bailey Composite: Nenov/Getty Images

When I was a teenager in the 1990s, the government seemed to believe that the gender pay gap was best addressed by telling girls that they could do anything. Splashy, lurid pink ads told me that systemic and societal barriers would fall in the face of my self-confidence.

Researchers have since debunked the notion that an individual can fix their lives through positive thinking. Will Storr, in his book Selfie, unpacks how the neoliberal myth of the level playing field underpins much of the self-improvement movement.