We hope you are all doing well :) Our semesters are wrapping up as we enter December and the relaxing, yet simultaneously busy holiday season. We hope you like the episode and as noted last week, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the podcast and questions for Ellie and David in our subscriber chat!
We’ve all been sold the ideal of meritocracy. The American dream, our education system, and our politics are all based on it. But what if meritocracy is actually impossible--and based on a misunderstanding of how society works? In episode 151 of Overthink, Ellie and David put meritocracy in the spotlight. They think through the inherent inequality of meritocracy, its tendency to skew toward conservatism, and what Trump’s attacks on DEI reveal about how society favors merit. How does meritocracy create vertical social distance between those in power and the working class? And is meritocracy even a worthwhile ideal? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts get into the role that merit plays in Christian theology and the promise of heaven.
Works Discussed:
Christopher Hayes, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy
Judith Lichtenberg and David Luban, “The Merits of Merit”
Michael Young, The Rise of the Meritocracy
Highlight: Christopher Hayes’ Keys of Meritocracy
Hayes outlines several critical qualities of meritocracy in his book Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy
Two principles of meritocracy
Principle of difference: vast differentiation between people in their abilities
Principle of mobility: there must be a competitive selection process that ensures those with merit are rewarded
His iron law of meritocracy argues that meritocracy inherently increases inequality, but it does not also increase social mobility
Over time, society will grow less equal and less mobile, not less equal and more mobile
Meritocracy then quickly devolves something else, like a plutocracy or an oligarchy
There are even more references to Hayes in the episode, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on his thoughts on meritocracy!
More on Meritocracy:
