The Rise and Rise of Meritocracy

£13.95 + P&P | Add to Basket

It is now fifty years since Micheal 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 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.

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

Contributors:

Paul Barker
Asa Briggs
Belinda Brown
Jon Cruddas
Jon Davis
Geoff Dench
Claire Donovan
Ronald Dore
Andrew Gamble
Irving Louis Horowitz
Takehiko Kariya
Michelynn Lafleche
Hilary Land
Ruth Lister
Peter Marris
Eric Midwinter
Ferdinand Mount
Jim Ogg
Rajiv Prabhakar
Yvonne Roberts
Peter Wilby
David Willetts
Peregrine Worsthorne