Joel Best, Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware, writes about American culture and the impact of awards, prizes and other competitions in the United States. He describes award inflation as an increase in the number of awards given, such as a high school class with multiple valedictorians, with little distinction as to the degree of competency.
This prize proliferation demonstrates our society’s interest in becoming the best and it has erased the merit of many awards. He chronicles baseball, where there was one Rookie of the Year in 1947 but one for each league in 1949. In 2001, there was the Rookie of the Month Award and in 2003 the Player of the Week awards started with over 50 players in a 25 week season.
The annual prize for outstanding mystery writing was the Edgar, starting in 1947. Britain’s Crime Writers Association started its own awards in 1955. Today we have more annual mystery awards; the number has grown to over 100 per year by associations creating new awards and more categories of awards.
Best identifies this interesting phenomenon and writes about our definition of heroes along with our over- the- top expectations in education. He addresses two schools of thought – one being the theory of mastery, where students earn grades and take series of lessons. Education benefits our society because it increases our knowledge. The second point of view, argues that schools need to provide opportunity and equal access to education, because education offers upward mobility. He discusses the value of each viewpoint along with the tension between advocates for either theory.
Best, Joel. (2011). Everyone’s a Winner: Life in Our Congratulatory Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press. HN90 .S6 B47 2011
