The Meritocracy Trap.nfo
General Information
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Title: The Meritocracy Trap
Author: Daniel Markovits
Read By: Fred Sanders
Genre: Nonfiction: Social Sciences
Copyright: 2019
Audiobook Copyright: 2019
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Release date: 2019-09-10
Duration: 14 hrs and 13 mins
Media Information
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Encoded Codec: MP3 / LAME 3.100
Encoded Sample Rate: 22050 Hz
Encoded Channels: 1
Encoded Bitrate: 32 kbits
Book Description
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A revolutionary new argument from eminent Yale Law professor Daniel Markovits attacking the false promise of meritocracy
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? Today, 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 Daniel Markovits prosecutes with rare force. Markovits 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. Markovits also knows that, if we understand that meritocratic inequality produces near-universal harm,
we can cure it. When The Meritocracy Trap 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.
*Includes a PDF of figures and tables.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the
audio.
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