Culture and its Impact on Wine: CREDENTIALISM
The demise of credentialism is going to hit wine
There is no escaping the magnetic pull of “culture” or the impact of the era’s zeitgeist. Save for the poor person who removes themselves from society altogether, everyone (and hence, every industry) will be pushed, pulled, and shoved by the movements and motions of the current zeitgeist.
Wine is no exception. As an example, consider Natural Wine. Looking back, one can see how its arrival on the wine scene and subsequent ascent two decades ago was a reaction to the same anti-globalization forces in the culture that brought us Occupy Wallstreet and focused the nation’s eye on the issue of income inequality.
It is almost always far easier to identify and describe the large moving forces within a culture when looking backward than to identify those having an impact at the moment or those that will move people and industries in the future. But let’s give it a try anyway. This is the first in a series of articles examining how the movement in culture is likely to impact wine. In this first article out of the gate, we look at the culture of CREDENTIALISM.
Folks of my generation who entered the wine industry in the 1980s and 1990s will tell you of the lack of any pressure they felt to obtain wine-related credentials as a means of obtaining a job. the wine industry. WSET, MW, MS…These credentials existed but few felt a need to obtain them in order to work in most wine fields. Credentialism—that compulsion, pressure, or seeming requirement to place formal education and the official degrees it confers above other means of learning and qualifying—began to become a force in the wine industry in the late 20th century. Credentialism came to wine long after it had captured academia and industry in the United States decades before. Yet over the past 20 years, we’ve seen an elevation of the wine-credentialed, a fawning spotlight shown on those pursuing the most rigorous wine credentials, and the conspicuous attachment of letters after a person’s name. The completion of a course in wine study has become a very important step up in the competition for top jobs in the industry.
However, Credentialism is in the process of ending or significantly eroding in the wine industry and society at large for a number of reasons, many of which are traceable to the current zeitgeist.
First, the cost of credentials has become a drag on the economy. We see how student loan debt has become so great that it has become one of a number of key factors in holding back an entire generation from moving up the economic ladder. So impactful has the cost of credentials become, many embrace, support, and applaud relieving the most educated people in the country of their Credential Debt and spreading its cost to all taxpayers, including those who never pursued any credential. This turn against credential debt is souring folks on educational credentials altogether and the wine industry is no different.
Along with the retreat from educational credentialism, we are also, as a culture, in the midst of a retreat from calculated merit: That process of using objective measures of talent, accomplishment, and skill to assess a person’s qualifications. The once-common SAT tests and scores are being abandoned by colleges and universities. Testing as a determination of who gets into the most rigorous public high schools is being rejected at numerous institutions. “Lived Experience” is taken far more seriously today as one way of knowing than it ever has been before. This trend to de-emphasize merit that begins in academic institutions is and will continue to spread into the culture, including the culture of wine. And it will help put an end to any widespread belief that credentials are important for entering or rising up within the wine industry moving forward.
Another nail in the credentialist coffin is the increasing focus on Return on Investment where education is concerned. Related to the issue of debt outlined above, the focus on ROI is teaching that costly educational experiences may not be worth the expense. A tight labor market, the growing understanding of the impact of debt at a young age, and the fact that there is no guarantee that a costly education will result in good money out of the gates is slowly changing attitudes toward education, including wine education. This is particularly true in wine since entry-level hospitality, wholesale and marketing positions can be had without resorting to an MS, MW, WSET or another set of initials.
The demise of credentialism is and will continue to impact the wine industry in the United States just as it will most other non-stem industries. What this means for the future of wine education is difficult to foresee. It seems unlikely that the Masters of Wine and Master Somm folks will close their doors. But if I were a betting man, I’d argue that fewer people will pursue this kind of education, particularly in their earliest years in the industry.