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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
For a book that puts the microscope on elitist economic principles, it is incredibly ironic that it is written in the most elitist fashion I have ever read in a nonfiction book, with no expansion on certain terms (given its only 227 pages, this was an absolute chore to read).
Not as interesting as his original book on justice, as that provided a more complete overview of the basic philosophical theories. But I did enjoy his application of his disapproval of the meritocratic dogma to recent events (Brexit and Trump). Probably the most interesting theory I have heard since university, as I was an avid believer of the meritocracy. We need to bring back the dignity of work for all. I like the idea of raising tax rate on jobs that are less productive for society, compared to those that are.
An interesting take on meritocracy. I was familiar with the general gist of the meritocracy, but had not thought of some of the ideas in this book, nor considered how deeply entrenched in merit our society is.
Takeaways:
At some point we’ve conflated merit and morality.
- The book suggests a religious tie-in to this.
- Moral actions are rewarded, and there’s a notion of ‘fate’ or ‘karma’ wherein goodness is rewarded, so those who are not rewarded by society must be bad in some way.
The difficulty with understanding merit as one who benefits from merit is that it’s hard to attribute success to luck when there’s indeed a portion of hard work.
- I am part of the meritocracy of course, and I wouldn’t say I got here by sheer luck.
- As far as living circumstances go, I’m privileged in some ways and disadvantaged in others.
- Society happens to appreciate the things i’m good at (i.e. studying and getting a good grade), so that in a sense is where the luck comes in. My parents give anything and everything for me to have an education and for me to focus solely on that education. That’s luck. I managed to work and do extracurricular activities and get half decent grades - that’s effort. So i guess ultimately it’s a combination, but no one can REALLy say they get where they are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Physics doesn’t allow that.
The meritocracy is especially rampant in higher education - it’s actually NOT currently serving as a method of social mobility.
- we kinda knew that, really.
- standardized test scores correlate to SES, as does admission into prestigious schools.
One way out of the meritocracy is to employ a ‘threshold’ method of selection, whereby all applicants that meet a minimal requirement will all be raffled for admission.
- frankly ridiculous
- this is what McMaster did for their med school admissions when the pandemic hit, and they couldn’t conduct normal MMIs, suggesting that ‘all students offered an interview were roughly equally qualified’
- as if
- The books suggests that without a threshold system, people would be less stressed, more grateful, and the burdens of the meritocracy would be lesser
- it’s quite a thing to do to take control out of peoples hands like that, and maybe i’m having a strong reaction to this idea because i’ve trended existentialist and nihilistic with philosophy and ‘leaving things up to fate’ feels really wrong.
- long story short i dont like it, but i am as deep into meritocracy as anybody can reasonably be and in general pretty successful at navigating it. so my opinions are skewed, certainly.
- and i’m not really fully able to wrap my head around this hot take
Takeaways:
At some point we’ve conflated merit and morality.
- The book suggests a religious tie-in to this.
- Moral actions are rewarded, and there’s a notion of ‘fate’ or ‘karma’ wherein goodness is rewarded, so those who are not rewarded by society must be bad in some way.
The difficulty with understanding merit as one who benefits from merit is that it’s hard to attribute success to luck when there’s indeed a portion of hard work.
- I am part of the meritocracy of course, and I wouldn’t say I got here by sheer luck.
- As far as living circumstances go, I’m privileged in some ways and disadvantaged in others.
- Society happens to appreciate the things i’m good at (i.e. studying and getting a good grade), so that in a sense is where the luck comes in. My parents give anything and everything for me to have an education and for me to focus solely on that education. That’s luck. I managed to work and do extracurricular activities and get half decent grades - that’s effort. So i guess ultimately it’s a combination, but no one can REALLy say they get where they are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Physics doesn’t allow that.
The meritocracy is especially rampant in higher education - it’s actually NOT currently serving as a method of social mobility.
- we kinda knew that, really.
- standardized test scores correlate to SES, as does admission into prestigious schools.
One way out of the meritocracy is to employ a ‘threshold’ method of selection, whereby all applicants that meet a minimal requirement will all be raffled for admission.
- frankly ridiculous
- this is what McMaster did for their med school admissions when the pandemic hit, and they couldn’t conduct normal MMIs, suggesting that ‘all students offered an interview were roughly equally qualified’
- as if
- The books suggests that without a threshold system, people would be less stressed, more grateful, and the burdens of the meritocracy would be lesser
- it’s quite a thing to do to take control out of peoples hands like that, and maybe i’m having a strong reaction to this idea because i’ve trended existentialist and nihilistic with philosophy and ‘leaving things up to fate’ feels really wrong.
- long story short i dont like it, but i am as deep into meritocracy as anybody can reasonably be and in general pretty successful at navigating it. so my opinions are skewed, certainly.
- and i’m not really fully able to wrap my head around this hot take
challenging
informative
reflective
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Quando comecei a ler achei que iria ser mais interessante do que foi, mas ainda assim, é um bom livro. Esperava uma crítica mais focada nas consequências políticas de uma sociedade meritocrática nos "perdedores" dessa mesma sociedade, mas acabou se focar mais em como a meritocracia cria um "hubris" nos perdedores e uma "smugness" nos vencedores que contribuí para a ascensão da direita populista. Ainda assim, bom livro
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Amazing amazing book, especially as an audiobook (I love Sandel’s voice and narrative style in this). Powerful analysis of the origin and evolution of meritocracy and how it has eroded our nation’s sense of community and the dignity of work. Great exploration of the moral and philosophical meaning of meritocracy and the various defenses and critiques of it; I especially appreciated the discussion of entitlement and deserving-ness amongst the college educated that has alienated the labor class. ALSO great breakdown of how all political groups have adopted meritocracy and how they use it to further their own politics. I also really enjoyed the breakdown of contributive justice and the ways that we can still course correct to stop the terrible side effects of extreme meritocracy. 100/10 it’s joining the holy trinity of books about work
