The Cheating Culture

The Cheating Culture

"The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead" is a nonfiction book, authored by David Callahan and published by Harcourt in 2004.

The main thesis of the book is that the current state of American society, characterized by rampant inequality and a winner-take-all philosophy, produces the rampant cheating that has been observed in business, law, academia, journalism, entertainment and medicine.

Cheating, of both illegal and legal forms, is pervasive in an American society where incentive-driven structures (e.g. stock options, production-based pay, fast-track career options) have gone haywire: Instead of promoting productivity and "fair play", they reward deception and chicanery. Callahan provides multiple examples of this phenomenon in recent American history:

*In the 1990s, when Sears instituted a production quota for its auto repair staff, mechanics began performing unnecessary and costly maintenance.

*Overbilling, often to the extent of criminality, is highly common within the legal profession. Pressed to bill as much time as possible, ambitious young lawyers often overcharge clients.

*In the medical profession, physicians feel forced to exaggerate symptoms of managed-care patients, since otherwise their insurers would deny coverage.

Not restricted to professions, cheating now appears in all facets of American life. According to Callahan, cheating breeds upon a dynamic between a winner class, an upper-class so influential they effectively are exempt from most rules and standards, and an anxious class, often compelled to cheat during a period of downward social mobility, downsizing, and within a cultural climate that values money and power above personal integrity.

Callahan shows, however, that large-scale cheating is most prevalent among the "Winner" upper class. Despite their high salaries and opulent lifestyles, they live in constant comparison with those who have more than them, and therefore exhibit lives characterized by high spending, severe anxiety, and countless opportunities and temptations to cheat.

The author, however, also notes that blame for the cheating phenomenon does not lie upon a single class of people. Rather, it represents the individualistic ambitions of the amorphously-defined "Me" generation, mixed dangerously with laissez-faire principles espoused by the 1980s neoliberals, and implemented, to America's detriment, during the "get-rich-quick" era of the 1980s and '90s.

While speaking about the book in Denver, Colorado, Callahan made the following statements about American society:

* The level of the public's trust is low to the point of being "poisonous". Throughout his book, he states that cynical attitudes and lack of trust in others produce cheating. For example, one expecting to be "screwed" by others is more likely to cheat others to compensate.
* Members of "higher" socio-economic groups, such as the wealthy bankers who profit from the credit card industry, frequently victimize members of "lower" socio-economic groups.
* The 1980s and '90s were characterized by an emphasis on self-interest, maintaining the individualism and anticonformism of the 1960s but shedding the community-oriented ideals of social responsibility and personal integrity.
* American society has a "schizophrenic personality": it tends to cyclically alternate between a spirit of self-interest, and an attitude of communal interest. The last period of such vulgar self-interest, according to Callahan, was the American 1920s.

External links

* [http://www.cheatingculture.com "The Cheating Culture's" Website]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cheating — Cheat redirects here. For other uses, see Cheat (disambiguation). Cheating refers to the breaking of rules to gain advantage in a competitive situation. The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based… …   Wikipedia

  • Cheating in poker — is any behavior outside the rules that is intended to give an unfair advantage to one or more players. Contents 1 Types of cheating 2 Minimal skill methods 3 Skilled methods 3.1 Marked cards …   Wikipedia

  • The Man with the Golden Arm (novel) — The Man with the Golden Arm is a novel by Nelson Algren that recounts the life of Frankie Machine , a card dealer in an illicit poker game being run not far from the tenement in which he lives. Machine is a morphine junkie just back to Chicago s… …   Wikipedia

  • The O.C. — This article is about the FOX television series. For the location from which the series derives its name, see Orange County, California. The O.C. Intertitle Card Seasons 3 4 Format Teen …   Wikipedia

  • The Gene Krupa Story — Infobox Film name = The Gene Krupa Story caption = director = Don Weis producer = Philip A. Waxman writer = Orin Jannings starring = Sal Mineo Susan Kohner James Darren Susan Oliver music = Leith Stevens cinematography = editing = distributor =… …   Wikipedia

  • The Rain God — Infobox Book | name = The Rain God: A Desert Tale title orig = translator = image caption = author = Arturo Islas illustrator = cover artist = country = language = series = genre = publisher = Alexandrian pub date = 1984 english pub date = media… …   Wikipedia

  • The Omega Man — For the coin counterfeiter, see The Omega Man (counterfeiter). For the manga and anime character, see Omegaman. The Omega Man Theatrical release poster Directed by …   Wikipedia

  • The Scarlet Letter — infobox Book | name = The Scarlet Letter title orig = translator = image caption = Title page, first edition of The Scarlet Letter , 1850 author = Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrator = series = genre = Novel publisher = Ticknor, Reed Fields pub date …   Wikipedia

  • Cheating Death — The phrase cheating death is commonly used to describe the manner in which a person avoids a possibly fatal event or who prolongs their life in spite of considerable odds. A person who cures themselves of cancer without chemotherapy, a person who …   Wikipedia

  • The Mole (Australia season 4) — The Mole in Paradise Country of origin  Australia No. of episodes 10 Broadcast …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”