The Meritocracy Trap
by Daniel Markovits · first published 2019
62% recommend33% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Argues that elite merit-based admissions and hiring entrench inequality, because wealthy parents invest heavily in their children's human capital. Suits readers questioning meritocracy and degree inflation.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"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 dynast
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The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovits is a great book on this topic. It makes a great argument that, unfortunately, merit based admission to elite universities does nothing to increase equality of opportunity because…
on “Colorado becomes first state to ban legacy college admissions” ↗…Aristocracy among men; the grounds of which are Virtue and Talents". There are a few great books written about this recently: - The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? by Michael Sandel - The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite by Daniel Markovits Both of these books examine how 20th century American society replaced a leisure-oriented…
on “Meritocracies Are Unfair – and That's the Point” ↗In the age of big data, the gig economy, and oligrachs dominating the US economy and political sphere--you're next. You should read The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovits: https://www.themeritocracytrap.com/ The author is actually a Yale Law Professor, and the book came out about a month ago.
on “A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]” ↗If you're interested in social mobility, I'd highly recommend the recent book The Meritocracy Trap. [1] The author, a Yale Law professor, talks about how aristocracy has been largely replaced by meritocracy in the US, and what the consequences are for both middle class and elites. His takeaway is…
on “Americans overestimate social mobility in their country” ↗…this guideline. It would be interesting to know who they are. I agree with your comment about rich kids gaming GPA, essays, and extracurriculars. Daniel Markovits addresses many of these points in "The Meritocracy Trap". Since I don't see how you can prevent gaming GPA, essays, or extracurriculars, given the alternatives, you're probably right that the tests may be better in this respect.
on “Reinstating our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions cycles” ↗> meritocracy You may wish to examine this concept more closely before thinking it is a completely good idea. Specifically see the book The meritocracy trap by Markovits: * https://www.themeritocracytrap.com * https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/meritoc... * https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/24/20919030/...
on “I'm retiring from the engineering profession” ↗Recommended reading: The Meritocracy Trap: https://www.amazon.com/Meritocracy-Trap-Foundational-Inequal...
on “Ask HN: What are we even chasing?” ↗>education has begun to act like wealth, because education is a form of wealth, and the productivity divide between wealth and work is increasing You might be interested in reading “The Meritocracy Trap” which discusses how elitism, particularly in regards to education and hyper-competitive productivity, drives inequality. The idea is that this is ultimately worse for both the non-elites who can no longer…
on “Educated Fools” ↗Yeah degree inflation is really hard on you if for whatever reason you buy into that. The Meritocracy Trap is a good read if you want to witness the existential horror of someone that realizes it's a thing when they come out on the other side.
on “Stanford’s war on social life” ↗I just read The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovitz. It’s an incredible book and talks at length about the issue in the article. A word about this: “What technology and trade have done, however, is displace millions of Americans from…
on “Jobs, jobs everywhere, but most of them kind of suck” ↗…plow money into the market, are you not a capitalist? Is a surgeon not labor since he or she may not own the hospital? Sure they may make $700,000/year, but... aren’t they working for a living? The Meritocracy Trap is a great book I’d recommend that’s related to this question/issue. Wealth and the bourgeoisie used to just hang out all day and go for walks in the park. Now they work 120 hours/week.
on “If pay had kept pace with productivity gains, minimum wage would be $24 an hour” ↗…uneducated.” But I actually think that there’s quite a bit here and in Markovits’s other work. If you have a chance to take a break from your compiler work, I recommend a lecture he does called “The Meritocracy Trap” and perhaps also his conversation with Glenn Loury.
on “How college became a ruthless competition divorced from learning” ↗Highly, highly recommend The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovitz [1] [1] https://www.themeritocracytrap.com/
on “The populist backlash has been a revolt against the tyranny of merit” ↗>I would not describe that period of my life as having more "free time" but I can understand how that may look the case. It’s more than just perception. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but The Meritocracy Trap gives the actual stats. Obviously, the higher strata have an abundance of other resources (chiefly money, by definition) but not free time because of the competitive nature of maintaining within that…
on “Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay” ↗Meritocracy isn’t a thing. The person who coined it was rightfully mocking society. The recent 2019 Meritocracy Trap book goes further into this. Your explanation is not “meritocratic”. The wealthy and powerful largely stay on top with the nuance you provided. The popular have more popular. are able to make what they…
on “Ask HN: Why doesn't anyone create a search engine comparable to 2005 Google?” ↗