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The Resource The meritocracy trap : how America's foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite, Daniel Markovits

The meritocracy trap : how America's foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite, Daniel Markovits

Creator
Author
Summary
It is an axiom of American life that advantage should be earned through ability and effort. Even as the country divides itself at every turn, the meritocratic ideal - that social and economic rewards should follow achievement rather than breeding - reigns supreme. Both Democrats and Republicans insistently repeat meritocratic notions. Meritocracy cuts to the heart of who we are. It sustains the American dream. But what if, both up and down the social ladder, meritocracy is a sham? In the early twenty-first century, meritocracy has become exactly what it was conceived to resist: a mechanism for the concentration and dynastic transmission of wealth and privilege across generations. Upward mobility has become a fantasy, and the embattled middle classes are now more likely to sink into the working poor than to rise into the professional elite. At the same time, meritocracy now ensnares even those who manage to claw their way to the top, requiring rich adults to work with crushing intensity, exploiting their expensive educations in order to extract a return. All this is not the result of deviations or retreats from meritocracy but rather stems directly from meritocracy's successes. This is the radical argument that the author prosecutes with rare force. He is well placed to expose the sham of meritocracy. Having spent his life at elite universities, he knows from the inside the corrosive system we are trapped within. The author also knows that, if we understand that meritocratic inequality produces near-universal harm, we can cure it. When this book reveals the inner workings of the meritocratic machine, it also illuminates the first steps outward, towards a new world that might once again afford dignity and prosperity to the American people. --
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xxiii, 418 pages
Contents
  • The meritocratic inheritance
  • Gloomy and glossy jobs
  • Part three.
  • A new aristocracy.
  • A comprehensive divide
  • Snowball inequality
  • The myth of merit
  • Conclusion:
  • What should we do?
  • Part one.
  • Meritocracy and its discontents.
  • The meritocratic revolution
  • The harms of meritocracy
  • The coming class war
  • Part two.
  • How meritocracy works.
  • The working rich
Isbn
9780735221994
Instance
Label
The meritocracy trap : how America's foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite
Title
The meritocracy trap
Title remainder
how America's foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite
Statement of responsibility
Daniel Markovits
Title variation
How America's foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite
Creator
Author
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
It is an axiom of American life that advantage should be earned through ability and effort. Even as the country divides itself at every turn, the meritocratic ideal - that social and economic rewards should follow achievement rather than breeding - reigns supreme. Both Democrats and Republicans insistently repeat meritocratic notions. Meritocracy cuts to the heart of who we are. It sustains the American dream. But what if, both up and down the social ladder, meritocracy is a sham? In the early twenty-first century, meritocracy has become exactly what it was conceived to resist: a mechanism for the concentration and dynastic transmission of wealth and privilege across generations. Upward mobility has become a fantasy, and the embattled middle classes are now more likely to sink into the working poor than to rise into the professional elite. At the same time, meritocracy now ensnares even those who manage to claw their way to the top, requiring rich adults to work with crushing intensity, exploiting their expensive educations in order to extract a return. All this is not the result of deviations or retreats from meritocracy but rather stems directly from meritocracy's successes. This is the radical argument that the author prosecutes with rare force. He is well placed to expose the sham of meritocracy. Having spent his life at elite universities, he knows from the inside the corrosive system we are trapped within. The author also knows that, if we understand that meritocratic inequality produces near-universal harm, we can cure it. When this book reveals the inner workings of the meritocratic machine, it also illuminates the first steps outward, towards a new world that might once again afford dignity and prosperity to the American people. --
Assigning source
Book jacket
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1969-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Markovits, Daniel
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Middle class
  • Social classes
  • Social mobility
  • Equality
  • American Dream
  • United States
  • Classes moyennes
  • Classes sociales
  • Mobilité sociale
  • Rêve américain
  • HISTORY
  • Social mobility
  • Social conditions
  • Social classes
  • American Dream
  • Equality
  • Intellectuals
  • Middle class
  • United States
  • Bürgertum
  • Meritokratie
  • Mittelstand
  • Soziale Ungleichheit
  • USA
Label
The meritocracy trap : how America's foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite, Daniel Markovits
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-404) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • The meritocratic inheritance
  • Gloomy and glossy jobs
  • Part three.
  • A new aristocracy.
  • A comprehensive divide
  • Snowball inequality
  • The myth of merit
  • Conclusion:
  • What should we do?
  • Part one.
  • Meritocracy and its discontents.
  • The meritocratic revolution
  • The harms of meritocracy
  • The coming class war
  • Part two.
  • How meritocracy works.
  • The working rich
Control code
1097367431
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xxiii, 418 pages
Isbn
9780735221994
Lccn
2019007519
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Note
WorldCat record variable field(s) change: 650
Other control number
15975757
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)1097367431
Label
The meritocracy trap : how America's foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite, Daniel Markovits
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-404) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • The meritocratic inheritance
  • Gloomy and glossy jobs
  • Part three.
  • A new aristocracy.
  • A comprehensive divide
  • Snowball inequality
  • The myth of merit
  • Conclusion:
  • What should we do?
  • Part one.
  • Meritocracy and its discontents.
  • The meritocratic revolution
  • The harms of meritocracy
  • The coming class war
  • Part two.
  • How meritocracy works.
  • The working rich
Control code
1097367431
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xxiii, 418 pages
Isbn
9780735221994
Lccn
2019007519
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Note
WorldCat record variable field(s) change: 650
Other control number
15975757
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)1097367431

Subject

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