The aristocracy of talent : how meritocracy made the modern world / Adrian Wooldridge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wooldridge, Adrian, author.

Contributor:

Charles H. Maxson Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social mobility.

Ability.

Merit (Ethics).

Merit (Ethics)--Economic aspects.

Physical Description:

viii, 481 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Skyhorse Publishing, [2021]

Summary:

The Times (UK) book of the year! Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their birth. While this initially seemed like a novel concept, by the end of the twentieth century it had become the world's ruling ideology. How did this happen, and why is meritocracy now under attack from both right and left? In The Aristocracy of Talent, esteemed journalist and historian Adrian Wooldridge traces the history of meritocracy forged by the politicians and officials who introduced the revolutionary principle of open competition, the psychologists who devised methods for measuring natural mental abilities, and the educationalists who built ladders of educational opportunity. He looks outside western cultures and shows what transformative effects it has had everywhere it has been adopted, especially once women were brought into the meritocratic system. Wooldridge also shows how meritocracy has now become corrupted and argues that the recent stalling of social mobility is the result of failure to complete the meritocratic revolution. Rather than abandoning meritocracy, he says, we should call for its renewal.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. ONE Priority, Degree and Place

1. Homo hierarchicus

2. Family Power

3. Nepotism, Patronage, Venality

pt. TWO Meritocracy before Modernity

4. Plato and the Philosopher Kings

5. China and the Examination State

6. The Chosen People

7. The Golden Ladder

pt. THREE The Rise of the Meritocracy

8. Europe and the Career Open to Talent

9. Britain and the Intellectual Aristocracy

10. The United States and the Republic of Merit

pt. FOUR The March of the Meritocrats

11. The Measurement of Merit

12. The Meritocratic Revolution

13. Girly Swots

pt. FIVE The Crisis of the Meritocracy

14. Against Meritocracy: The Revolt on the Left

15. The Corruption of the Meritocracy

16. Against Meritocracy: The Revolt on the Right

17. Asia Rediscovers Meritocracy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Charles H. Maxson Fund.

ISBN:

9781510768611

1510768610

OCLC:

1246226497

Publisher Number:

99987920686