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Everyone's a Winner

Life in Our Congratulatory Culture
by Joel Best (Author)
Hardcover eBook
Price: $32.95 / £28.00
Publication Date: Mar 2011
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 216
ISBN: 9780520948488
Endowments:
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About the Book

Every kindergarten soccer player gets a trophy. Many high schools name dozens of seniors as valedictorians—of the same class. Cars sport bumper stickers that read “USA—Number 1.” Prizes proliferate in every corner of American society, and excellence is trumpeted with ratings that range from “Academy Award winner!” to “Best Neighborhood Pizza!” In Everyone’s a Winner, Joel Best— acclaimed author of Damned Lies and Statistics and many other books—shines a bright light on the increasing abundance of status in our society and considers what it all means. With humor and insight, Best argues that status affluence fosters social worlds and, in the process, helps give meaning to life in a large society.

About the Author

Joel Best is Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware and the author of Damned Lies and Statistics, More Damned Lies and Statistics, Flavor of the Month, and Stat-Spotting, all from UC Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Life in an Era of Status Abundance
2. Prize Proliferation
3. Honoring Students
4. Everyday Heroes
5. Ranking and Rating
6. The Significance of Congratulatory Culture

Notes
References
Index

Reviews

“Clever but never condescending. . . . Best finds something profound in our willingness to treat our world as meaningful. “
— Publishers Weekly
“In this pithy, witty, and wise little book, Best characterizes the college rankings arms race, the new hero, and the self-congratulatory US society. . . . Highly recommended.”
— Choice
“This is a very entertaining read.”
— Bookloons Reviews
“When Joel Best begins this interesting text with a litany of extraordinary—and, to non-American eyes, cringeworthy—lists of boasting and self-congratulatory customs, from "best-of" lists identifying the top Chinese takeaways in Delaware, to schools giving out bumper stickers to their honour students (often the entire body, it transpires), my initial thought was to consign this to the "What's that to do with us?" pile. As the text develops, however, it becomes clear that this is, if not a ‘warning from history’, certainly something of a ‘heads up’ on where we seem to be going. . . . We all want a way of getting the best for ourselves, but also solidity and a firmly grounded moral compass. He [Best] raises the interesting possibility that these ends are at least contradictory, and probably incompatible.”
— Times Higher Education
“[Best’s] book will appeal to sociologists as well as to a much wider audience. . . . An enjoyable introduction to cultural sociology. The enjoyable and easy to read writing style will provide a good opportunity newcomers to link sociological concepts with their own ‘real-world’ observation.”
— Sociological Research Online
“A helpful wake-up call to a disturbing national phenomenon.”
— Spirituality & Practice
"The way that Best explains how to move from an abstract theoretical concept into the realm of observation and measurement is clear, thorough and powerful."
— Social Forces
"Joel Best has a particular talent for making sociological ideas accessible to a broad audience. In Everyone's a Winner, Best cleverly and entertainingly examines what he calls our increasingly 'self-congratulatory' culture. While not every book is a winner, this one surely is."—David Grazian, author of Mix It Up: Popular Culture, Mass Media, and Society

"Joel Best has an uncanny ability to identify wildly interesting phenomena and help us better understand their sociological dimensions. His latest excursion on self-congratulatory culture provides an insightful analysis of our incessant quest for constant recognition and its social consequences. The book is a joy to read."—Karen A. Cerulo, author of Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst

"Joel Best's lively prose and compelling examples paint a vivid portrait of the 'congratulatory culture' produced by the proliferation of awards, heroes, and rankings in modern America. Everyone's a Winner is a fascinating book, highly recommended for anyone interested in the status politics of contemporary society."—Michael Sauder, coeditor of Inequality and Society