The Matthew Effect

Dr. Abdulrahman ALJAMOUSS

The only reason not to reward the best and brightest for their achievements is to avoid punishing the rest for their shortcomings.

The Matthew Effect is a term that describes the concept in society of accumulated advantage. It argues that people who start from a place of advantage, like intelligence, fame, wealth, or skill, will have the opportunity to accrue more of that advantage compared to others. The Matthew Effect is often thought of by the phrase, "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer."

The term Matthew Effect was devised by Dr. Robert K. Merton in 1968. Merton, a professor of sociology at Columbia University, and his wife and colleague, Harriet Zuckerman, were analyzing interviews of Nobel prize winners. The interviewees repeatedly noted that already well-known scientists' contributions to their fields received significant credit. Similar contributions, however, by less-known scientists tended to receive much less recognition. This repeated observation led to the naming of the Matthew Effect, which has since been applied to other areas as well.

Merton named the Matthew Effect for a Bible verse in the Gospel of Matthew, specifically Matthew 25:29, which reads, "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath."

 

Experts testified that James’s declining IQ test scores was an example of the Matthew Effect, and evidence that James was not receiving appropriate remediation. The Administrative Law Judge and the Review Officer agreed and found that the school district had not provided James with an appropriate education.

In other words, a pupil with dyslexia can’t get special education assistance until and unless other children of similar intellectual potential are reading significantly better.”

Because the Matthew Effect has become so widespread in school systems across the world, researchers have had a field day (or half-century, rather) studying its impact.