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The Meritocracy Trap

How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite

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The Meritocracy Trap

Written by: Daniel Markovits
Narrated by: Fred Sanders
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About this listen

 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. Education Politics & Government Social Sciences Sociology Middle Class Capitalism Economic disparity Socialism Taxation Economic Inequality Management US Economy Liberalism Employment Democrat Banking Law Social justice Social Democracy
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Narrator was clear and the book was accurate in its criticisms of society and the culture we develop as a response to technology and the power creep of elite education. He paints a vivid analysis of the intergenerational addiction to faux dynasty that meritocratic production develops in its participants.

Piercing and insightful.

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I liked the comprehensive examination of the broad topic. I didn’t like all the statics although the stats are what conveyed the truthfulness of the author’s message.
The primary benefit for reading this book was that my blindness and ignorance of the world was lessened. The essential first step in solving a problem is to perceive and understand that there is a problem. As Daniel Markovits points out, this book describes the problem, but the remedy will be realized by implementing corrective action in the real world.
This book should be considered a MUST READ!

Living in the fish bowl without knowing it

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As a person that finds himself under 30 and in the top 3-2% I. glad to have someone make so many great arguments about the catch 22 many ambitious people find themselves in.

It is harder to imagine how to solve a problem like this.

Absolutely must be read!

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Please, read this book. It is long and arduous, but worth it. If you can't get through it, at least read the intro, and final two chapters.

The most important thing I've read, bar none

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