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The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World Hardcover – July 13, 2021

by Adrian Wooldridge (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 297 ratings
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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.
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  1. Print length
    504 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Skyhorse
  4. Publication date
    July 13, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1510768610
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1510768611
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

Adrian Wooldridge business book of the year 2021 longlisted
James Marriot The Times London Quote
Times Literary Supplement quote anecdotes and statistics
Steven Pinker Harvard University Quote
What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don't, Fourth Edition Case for Color-Blind Equality in an Age of Identity Politics Poverty Safari Affirmative Action Puzzle Your Special Education Rights
What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don't, Fourth Edition The Case for Color-Blind Equality in an Age of Identity Politics Poverty Safari Affirmative Action Puzzle Your Special Education Rights
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Erudite, thoughtful and magnificently entertaining book."
--James Marriott, The Times (London)

"Unfailingly entertaining, effortlessly drawing on a wealth of anecdote and statistics." --Times Literary Supplement

"This unique and fascinating history explains why the blame now being piled upon meritocracy is misplaced—and that assigning responsibilities to the people best able to discharge them really is better than the time-honored customs of corruption, patronage, nepotism, and hereditary castes. Wooldridge upends many common assumptions and provides an indispensable back story to this fraught and pressing issue."
--Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University

"Wonderful...The Aristocracy of Talent provides an important and needed corrective to contemporary critiques of meritocracy.  It puts meritocracy  in an illuminating historical and cross-cultural perspective that shows how critical the judgment of people by their talents rather than their bloodlines or connections has been to creating the modern world.  Highly recommended."
--Francis Fukuyama, Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

"This is an important, fascinating  and superbly written book. The Aristocracy of Talent pulls the rug out from under the current assault on meritocracy.  How quickly we forget that reformers struggled for centuries to displace privilege  of birth with merit-based judgments. Rejecting merit in favor of equal outcomes, Adrian Wooldridge persuasively argues, is like handing the keys of the future to China and other cultures focused on results. Does the assault on core values leave you at a loss for words?  Read this book."   
--Philip K Howard, author of The Death of Common Sense and founder of Common Good

"Wooldridge... makes intelligent contributions to the fraught cultural debate about the value--or lack thereof--of meritocracy." --Brooke Allen, The Hudson Review

About the Author

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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse (July 13, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 504 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1510768610
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1510768611
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 297 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
297 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

GrieferTroll_13
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2021
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I listened to an interview with the author on the John Bachelor Show which caught my attention. I was quite pleased to find the book so interesting and essential for addressing many trending challenges facing the West.
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Edwin A. Locke
4.0 out of 5 stars A great book, with some reservations
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2022
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The Aristocracy of Talent

This is a mostly brilliant, courageous, and very important book in many respects. First, it presents a fascinating history of the issue of selection based on talent from Plato to the present. Second, it shows that recognizing and rewarding talent is pro-progress and pro-life. Third, the author explains how talent recognition is properly based heavily on the use of objective tests, especially cognitive ability (IQ) tests, but he does not recommend locking them in (through government tracking) for life at an early age. IQ is mainly genetic and that IQ tests are not racist. Higher IQ leads to better outcomes among all groups. The author strongly favors finding talented people from poor families and supporting their education with scholarships. Fourth, the author argues that meritocracy is moral in that it allows everyone to have the chance to fully utilize whatever talents they have while totally rejecting the idea that everyone must come out the same. Fifth, he fully supports the concept of a Constitutional Republic that protects rights rather than a pure democracy (unlimited majority or mob rule). In sum, this book primarily pro-justice and pro-individualism and, as such, is a very valuable antidote to the hateful attacks on merit by leftists who relentlessly push to replace individual merit with quotas for favored collectives. I should add that the author does NOT say that people should base their self-esteem on income or status-seeking but rather on what they are able to achieve in their own work. He thinks, correctly I think, that the elite universities are snobbish, but I did a bit of research and found that Harvard gives 50% of its students need-based scholarships and 20% full scholarships. It is clear that he would like more scholarships at all levels.

I have some reservations about the book. (i) He wants more government involvement in people’s lives than I would support, such as government involvement in news broadcasting and he is not 100% opposed to affirmative action. (ii) He wants government bureaucrats to be intelligent, ok fine, but he does not say that there should be many fewer of them with less power; and (iii) he wants intelligent people to feel in some form duty above self and implies that people should feel some guilt about wanting to better their own lives and the lives of their children, which means that people should not fully use their ability for their own benefit. These altruist-statist premises somewhat undermine an otherwise great book.
15 people found this helpful
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Steve Summers
3.0 out of 5 stars Two cheers for an erudite, entertaining, and well-written defense of merit ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2021
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...also chock full of dubious ideas & omissions.

Meritocracy is a deceptively ambiguous word and this author's own definitions only emerge in his final chapter--even then in poor focus. Until then the reader must infer from elusive clues what he means. An overlong discourse on the importance of Plato's "Republic" near the beginning is the first clue. Another is his tendency to dismiss personal traits like perseverance, deference of reward, integrity, or a strong work ethic as "mere training"--something to be academically separated from true "ability", i.e., doing well on IQ tests--which he seems to see as the essence of merit. And high merit is to be rewarded by an education fitting the student to join the "Aristocracy of Talent" in governing those who flunked the tests.

The expansive middle of the book, particularly his wonderfully amusing historical anecdotes about hereditary aristocrats' incompetence and how the rising ideas of the enlightenment reduced them from royal dictators to items of tabloid gossip is wonderful. And his warnings about abandoning merit just when it's ascendant in the rest of the world--especially China--is timely. Many will find some faults with some of the author's arguments but at least he can create an entertaining narrative in spite of some gaping blind spots.

For example: His focus on the problems of racial inequality of income and education in the U.S. has numerous taboo subjects, like the teachers' unions' strangle hold on inner city schools. Their rigid focus on lavish retirement benefits combines perversely with an ironclad tenure for lazy or burned-out teachers to create an Aristocracy of Incompetence where merit is most sorely needed. Unions also underwrite expensive political campaigns to thwart charter schools or any innovation that threatens union control. This contributes to a rapidly widening gap in educational attitudes between blacks & almost all other ethnicities (not just whites).

An ignored elephant in the room is the importance of culture to merit. Why do Jews or Asians rise so disproportionately to elite positions in academia and commerce? This happens all over the planet--often in spite of strong local prejudices and explicit legal discrimination. Such obvious facts once generated Jewish quotas in academia, and are today cited almost exclusively for reducing Asian student enrollments. The impact of culture--positive or negative-- on success deserves frontal consideration in any discussion of merit--not just as a gripe for identity racists.

Also taboo is mentioning the existence of numerous black intellectuals (Tom Sowell, John McWhorter, Jason Riley to name a few) who challenge "structural racism" as a cause of the failure of black families to rise after the fall of Jim Crow. Many point out that black families had been poor, but most were as strong and as committed to education and upward mobility as white families--until subjected to corrosive disincentives of welfare subsidies. The good intentions of the 60's were enacted in political haste and they backfired slowly but disastrously. Meritocracy--however you define it--cannot backfill this growing gap without a fundamental change of focus. The solutions currently contemplated--more white guilt, identity politics, and racial reparations will only deepen it.

Nor is there a credible plan in the "Conclusions" chapter for addressing it. No army of Meritocrats can solve problems that go unacknowledged. There are some worthy observations in that final chapter, but they're lost in a thicket of mediocre & outright bad ones. Lacking a unifying vision--or even concise definition--of his subject, he needs a long chapter to make his points. Mostly he backtracks to the vision of Plato's ideal of the lofty philosopher-king whose massive intellect and the ascetic ways in which he was groomed for absolute power make him invulnerable to the mob (people), the generals, and merchant interests--and to removal from office. He seems to be the author's ideal meritocrat, and he believes that Plato's vision can be adapted to the modern world.

This seems a poor choice of muses. As he concedes early on, Plato's vision is seen by many as a blueprint for the totalitarian state. Plato's republic seems an analog of Sparta's. The philosopher-king and his many subjects (and slaves) are not unlike Sparta's minority warrior caste and many helots (slaves). All are bound together in rigid rules of behavior and training. Everybody's place is defined by authority. Plato doesn't ask which ideas, opinions, or songs the king should censor, he asks which ones the king should permit. The Republic is the original formula for all Utopian plans to come: a top-down authority enforcing a rigid uniformity, a suppression of individuality, and an expectation of willing (or unwilling) obedience. Authority always trumps human nature. The only check on the philosopher-king is his early indoctrination. The inevitable corruptions of power were one of Plato's many blind spots.

So how can Plato's dream be civilized for the modern world? The author will need most of that last chapter and a maze of digressions to explain that. Better you should read it for yourself. But be skeptical.
25 people found this helpful
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A M
4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive review and thought-provoking ideas
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2022
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The book presents a comprehensive and scholarly review of the history of meritocracy. The final chapter also presents some thought-provoking ideas on how to promote meritocracy.
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Serious Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes powerful arguements on the importance and evolution of talent. Well written too!
Reviewed in Canada on August 1, 2021
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Loved this book, a wonderfully written history of the evolution of talent and its' role in various economies around the world. Amusing and insightful.
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MarcoPolo
5.0 out of 5 stars Am Ausgangspunkt der Moderne, am Prüfstand der Gegenwart
Reviewed in Germany on June 29, 2022
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Die Idee von einer Leistungsgesellschaft, in der jeder im offenen Wettbewerb Talente und Begabungen in finanziellen Erfolg und sozialen Status münzen kann, bildet vielleicht DAS prägende Fundament der Moderne. Adrian Wooldridge führt uns das stets aus fesselnd gewählten Perspektiven, gespickt mit Fakten und Anekdoten vor Augen. Das in der gottgewollten Ordnung fixierte und begrenzte Individuum wird in der meritokratischen Strömung zum planenden und (selbst)optimierenden Subjekt, das die Zeit nicht mehr als unveränderlichen Zyklus begreift, sondern als lineare Strecke der Setzung und Erreichung von Zielen.

Das zuletzt wieder anschwellende Unbehagen an der Meritokratie beantwortet der Autor mit der Forderung nach konsequenterem ("Chancen für alle!") und sozial verträglicherem Wettbewerb. Obwohl offenkundig ein glühender Verfechter einer offenen Leistungsgesellschaft, hat er die Kritik daran über viele Kapitel so emphatisch präsentiert, dass sein Plädoyer dafür in der "Conclusio" stellenweise geradezu matt ausfällt. Wenn er etwa in einer von globalen Shareholder-Strukturen geprägten Wirtschaft zur moralischen Erneuerung der Entscheider*innen aufruft, gerät das zur mauen Sonntagsrede. Gewünscht hätte ich mir auch einen stärkeren Fokus auf den "Mittelbau" gesellschaftlicher Meritokratie: mehr über Chancen(un)gleichheit in der Selektion von Abteilungs- und Teamleitern als über Ivy League-Studierende und globale Super-Entrepreneure ...

Wünsche, die Ergebnis der exzellenten Arbeit von Adrian Wooldrigde sind: Sein Buch zieht in den (inneren) Dialog, lädt zum genussvollen Nach- und Weiterdenken ein und dazu, angeregt mit Bekannten zu diskutieren. Etwa die Frage, ob es immer nur Bildungsabschlüsse und Geschäftserfolge sein müssen, die wir gesellschaftlich als Meriten wertschätzen und honorieren wollen ...
2 people found this helpful
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J F G Shearmur
5.0 out of 5 stars Readable and very stimulating
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2022
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This seemed to me a fascinating read, and I was struck that it provided interesting discussion, and really useful references, on all kinds of points. I think that the author's case for a modified meritocracy is a powerful one. But there seemed to me three elements missing. The first was: how about suggestions for the development of institutions which are more genuinely meritocratic than those that we have - in the sense of being less easily corruptible by the rich? The author suggests how these might work, but not how they can be set up in competition with existing institutions. The second was, that he seemed to me not to address the real problem of how one addresses the situation of the less talented feeling not only that they have lost out, but that they deserve to be at the bottom of the heap. What is needed, here, are institutional suggestions (how about, say, the development of housing which, like in older villages, mixes housing of different kinds, and the encouragement of ideas about responsibility for those who live close to you: just an idea which I am sure that others can improve on.) The third was an appreciation of the way in which some key talents - consider, say, those of the younger Alan Sugar - can operate in the public interest, without needing any kind of meritocratic credentials. Not only is market behaviour an important qualification to the literature on meritocracies (which tends to be implicitly focussed on bureaucracies, public or commercial); but if this is, indeed, important, it may be really important to think of ways in which the starting up of businesses by individuals can be made easier.
3 people found this helpful
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Dr. Dileep Srinivasan
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Thought provoking
Reviewed in India on September 9, 2021
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A new line of thought!
A very interesting read!
One person found this helpful
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Paolo Rossi
5.0 out of 5 stars Fondamentale
Reviewed in Italy on September 5, 2021
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Un libro da far leggere se non al liceo sicuramente nelle universita'. Esamina uan delle questioen piu' delicate del nostro tempo: la scomparsa del pensiero critico sommerso dal politicamente corretto e dal conformismo.
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