The Rise and Rise of Meritocracy de Dench

The Rise and Rise of Meritocracy: Political Quarterly Monograph Series

Dench

en Limba Engleză Paperback – 19 dec 2006

It is now fifty years since Michael Young wrote The Rise of the Meritocracy -- a sociological fantasy set in the twenty-first century and portraying a sinister, highly stratified society organised around intelligence testing and educational selection. After some difficulty getting published, it was an immediate success and became very widely read. But it does not seem to have had the influence that Michael most wanted for it, over Labour Party thinking. The story was intended to help turn Labour away from meritocracy, by reminding it of the importance of communitarian values. Curiously, though, half a century later we have a Labour Government declaring the promotion of meritocracy as one of its primary objectives.

So what is going on? This book offers a variety of opinions. Building on a conference held to mark the half-centenary of Michael Young's Institute of Community Studies, it contains commentaries by a selection of academics, journalists and politicians, from Asa Briggs to David Willetts, on the origin, meaning and future of meritocracy.

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