CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR S.C. TEACHER CADET COURSE | EXPERIENCING EDUCATION, TENTH EDITION
The Self-Esteem Fraud, Page 2 of 4
In 1986, a group of California state legislators convinced themselves that low self-esteem was the root
cause behind a variety of social and economic problems such as drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and poor
school performance. Before taking this line of thinking too far, however, they decided they needed
some research to back up their claims. So they established the California Task Force to Promote SelfEsteem and Personal and Social Responsibility, which published its findings in a book called The
Social Importance of Self-Esteem. The editors might as well have titled it The Social Unimportance
of Self-Esteem because they found practically no connection between self-esteem and any of the behaviors they studied. As Neil Smelser noted in the introduction, “One of the disappointing aspects of
every chapter in this volume....is how low the associations between self-esteem and its consequences
are in research to date.” Over the years, other reviewers have offered similar readings of the available
research, pointing out the results are unimpressive or characterized by massive inconsistencies and
contradictions. The California Task Force was not a disinterested group of scholars. They wanted to
find a link. Nevertheless, when their research failed to turn one up, they had the honesty to admit it.
Scholars who focus on the connection between hi v