No Contest: The Case Against Competition

No Contest stands as the definitive critique of competition.

Contrary to accepted wisdom, competition is not basic to human nature; it poisons our relationships and holds us back from doing our best.

Drawing on hundreds of studies across education and industry, Kohn demonstrates that structural rivalry routinely stifles productivity; it undermines intrinsic interest and elevates anxiety in the classroom and the workplace alike.

The book dismantles the common belief that contests build character, demonstrating instead how conditional victory generates chronic insecurity rather than lasting self-esteem. In this new edition, Alfie Kohn argues that the race to win turns all of us into losers.

• Social Psychology: Analysis of landmark experiments, including Muzafer Sherif’s Robbers Cave study with the Rattlers and Eagles, showing how structural contests generate hostility and aggression without providing an emotional release.


• Anthropology: Field evidence from cultures around the globe, highlighting the Zuñi ceremonial races where winners go unannounced and the New Guinea Tangu game of taketak played to an intentional draw.


• Organizational Behavior: Data from real-world work environments, including Peter Blau’s classic investigation of employment agencies and Robert Helmreich’s research tracking airline pilots and scientists.


• Cooperative Learning: Practical models for restructuring classrooms, examining Elliot Aronson’s jigsaw method and group problem-solving strategies that replace artificial scarcity with mutual achievement.