When meritocracy wins, everybody loses
In The Meritocracy Trap, Daniel Markovits argues that meritocracy — a system set-up to expand opportunity, reduce inequality and end aristocracy — has become exactly what it was set up to combat: a mechanism for intergenerational wealth transfer that leaves everyone worse off in the process.
Markovits isn’t only challenging a system; he is challenging the system that I (and probably most of you) have been part of for our entire lives. For better or worse, Meritocracy is the water we swim in. We implicitly accept its values, practices, arguments, and assumptions because they govern our everyday lives.
This interview was a chance for me to exit the water. Maybe it will be for you as well.
Book recommendations:
The Rise of the Meritocracy by Michael Young
The Race between Education and Technology by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz
"Technical Change, Inequality, and The Labor Market" (article) by Daron Acemoglu
Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com
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In The Meritocracy Trap, Daniel Markovits argues that meritocracy — a system set-up to expand opportunity, reduce inequality and end aristocracy — has become exactly what it was set up to combat: a mechanism for intergenerational wealth transfer that leaves everyone worse off in the process.
Markovits isn’t only challenging a system; he is challenging the system that I (and probably most of you) have been part of for our entire lives. For better or worse, Meritocracy is the water we swim in. We implicitly accept its values, practices, arguments, and assumptions because they govern our everyday lives.
This interview was a chance for me to exit the water. Maybe it will be for you as well.
Book recommendations:
The Rise of the Meritocracy by Michael Young
The Race between Education and Technology by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz
"Technical Change, Inequality, and The Labor Market" (article) by Daron Acemoglu
Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com
News comes at you fast. Join us at the end of your day to understand it. Subscribe to Today, Explained
We are conducting an audience survey to better serve you. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps out the show. Please take our survey here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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