Everyone's a Winner - Life in Our Congratulatory Culture (Electronic book text)

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."