Everyone's a Winner

Life in Our Congratulatory Culture

Joel Best author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:University of California Press

Published:1st Mar '11

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Everyone's a Winner cover

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.

"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." -- Bob Walch Bookloons Reviews "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." -- Les Gofton Times Higher Education "An enjoyable introduction to cultural sociology... Enjoyable and easy to read writing style." -- Tristan Kennedy, Flinders University of South Australia Sociological Research Online "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." -- Amy E. Singer Social Forces

ISBN: 9780520267169

Dimensions: 210mm x 140mm x 24mm

Weight: 408g

216 pages