The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value

by James F. English

Overview

This is a book about one of the great untold stories of modern cultural life: the remarkable ascendancy of prizes in literature and the arts. James F. English documents the dramatic rise of the awards industry and its complex role within what he describes as an economy of cultural prestige.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674036536
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	538 KB

About the Author

James F. English is Professor and Chair of English, University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction: Prizes and the Study of Culture I. The Age of Awards 1. Prize Frenzy 2. Precursors of the Modern Cultural Prize 3. The Logic of Proliferation 4. Prizes as Entertainment II. Peculiarities of the Awards Industry 5. The Making of a Prize 6. Taste Management 7. Trophies as Objects of Production and Trade III. The Game and Its Players 8. Scandalous Currency 9. The New Rhetoric of Prize Commentary 10. Strategies of Condescension, Styles of Play IV. The Global Economy of Cultural Prestige 11. The Arts as International Sport 12. The New Geography of Prestige 13. Prizes and the Politics of World Culture Appendix A. The Rise of the Prize Appendix B. Prizes and Commerce Appendix C. Winner Take All: Six Lists Notes Index

What People are Saying About This

No one has tried to discuss the ins and outs of nonacademic cultural prestige as dispassionately as English does. We have scads of gossipy tales of how the game works and is played, but nothing like the nonparticipant-observer account on offer here. This book is truly ground-breaking, as well as informative and entertaining.

Elizabeth Long

In an impressive tour de force, James English has quite brilliantly accomplished what he set out to do: reveal some essential features of our cultural landscape through the systematic analysis of a set of cultural practices that has been commented on ad infinitum, but never really understood. An extraordinary book, it is at once a delight to read and an original contribution to both cultural sociology and the broader interdisciplinary field of cultural studies. I know of no other book that addresses the issues that he takes up so knowledgeably. This is a genuinely innovative piece of work.
— Elizabeth Long, author of Book Clubs: Women and the Uses of Reading in Everyday Life

Percival Everett

The irony of course is that there ought to be a prize for a book that so beautifully exposes the business and culture of prizes. James English's The Economy of Prestige is a smart, sardonic but never cynical, and genuine in its curiosity and mission. A pleasure to read and think about.
— Percival Everett, author of Erasure and God's Country

John McGowan

No one has tried to discuss the ins and outs of nonacademic cultural prestige as dispassionately as English does. We have scads of gossipy tales of how the game works and is played, but nothing like the nonparticipant-observer account on offer here. This book is truly ground-breaking, as well as informative and entertaining.
— John McGowan, author of Democracy's Children