# The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World - Hardcover

by **Adrian Wooldridge** (Author)

**_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.

### Author Biography

**Adrian Wooldridge** is the political editor and a columnist at the _Economist_. He earned a doctorate in history from Oxford University, where he was a Fellow of All Souls College. He is the author of ten previous books, including _Capitalism in America_ co-written with Alan Greenspan and seven co-written with John Micklethwait: _The Wake-Up Call_, _The Witch Doctors_, _A Future Perfect_, _The Company_, _The Right Nation_, _God is Back_, and _The Fourth Revolution_

**Number of Pages:** 504

**Dimensions:** 1.5 x 9.2 x 6 IN

**Publication Date:** July 13, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 24.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 24.99 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World - Hardcover

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