The Aristocracy of Talent by Adrian Wooldridge

The Aristocracy of Talent by Adrian Wooldridge

The Times (UK) book of the year Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their birth. While this initially seemed like a novel concept, by the end of the twentieth century it had become the world's ruling ideology. How did this happen, and why is meritocracy now under attack from both right and left?

In The Aristocracy of Talent, esteemed journalist and historian Adrian Wooldridge traces the history of meritocracy forged by the politicians and officials who introduced the revolutionary principle of open competition, the psychologists who devised methods for measuring natural mental abilities, and the educationalists who built ladders of educational opportunity. He looks outside western cultures and shows what transformative effects it has had everywhere it has been adopted, especially once women were brought into the meritocratic system.

Wooldridge also shows how meritocracy has now become corrupted and argues that the recent stalling of social mobility is the result of failure to complete the meritocratic revolution. Rather than abandoning meritocracy, he says, we should call for its renewal.

Adrian Wooldridge is the Economist's political editor and a columnist. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in history and was a Fellow of All Souls College. He has published 10 books, including Capitalism in America, which he co-wrote with Alan Greenspan, and seven with John Micklethwait: The Wake-Up Call, The Witch Doctors, A Future Perfect, The Company, The Right Country, God is Back, and The Fourth Revolution.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781510768611
ISBN 10	1510768610
Title	The Aristocracy of Talent
Author	Adrian Wooldridge
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Skyhorse Publishing
Year published	2021-07-13
Number of pages	504
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.