Adrian Wooldridge #UNBOUND. The complete eighty-minute interview. July 10, 2016
Jul 25, 2021, 01:19 AM
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A burly Roman senator and a small, thin, knock-kneed Englishman face each other. Over one is etched "The Roman Senator"; over the other, "The British Senator". The Roman (left) in profile to the right., wearing armour and a voluminous cloak, stands in front of a pillar with his left foot on a raised step; he holds out his hands as if in surprise at the appearance of the Englishman. The Briton stands upon a square stool, his toes turned in; he looks at the Roman through a lorgnette, with an expression of dismay; his left hand is raised in astonishment. His dishevelled hair is in a short queue and he is dressed in the fashion of the day. On the ground at his feet are cards, dice, a dice-box; another dice-box is on the stool. He has just dropped the Knave of Clubs which falls to the ground. Behind him two game-cocks are fighting. In the distance the horizon is inscribed "Surry Hills", indicating that he is M.P. for Surrey. 27 January 1777
Etching
CBS Eyes on the World with John Batchelor
CBS Audio Network
@Batchelorshow
Adrian Wooldridge #UNBOUND. The complete eighty-minute interview. July 10, 2016
A burly Roman senator and a small, thin, knock-kneed Englishman face each other. Over one is etched "The Roman Senator"; over the other, "The British Senator". The Roman (left) in profile to the right., wearing armour and a voluminous cloak, stands in front of a pillar with his left foot on a raised step; he holds out his hands as if in surprise at the appearance of the Englishman. The Briton stands upon a square stool, his toes turned in; he looks at the Roman through a lorgnette, with an expression of dismay; his left hand is raised in astonishment. His dishevelled hair is in a short queue and he is dressed in the fashion of the day. On the ground at his feet are cards, dice, a dice-box; another dice-box is on the stool. He has just dropped the Knave of Clubs which falls to the ground. Behind him two game-cocks are fighting. In the distance the horizon is inscribed "Surry Hills", indicating that he is M.P. for Surrey. 27 January 1777
Etching
CBS Eyes on the World with John Batchelor
CBS Audio Network
@Batchelorshow
Adrian Wooldridge #UNBOUND. The complete eighty-minute interview. July 10, 2016
The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World Hardcover – July 13, 2021 by Adrian Wooldridge (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Aristocracy-Talent-Meritocracy-Modern-World-ebook/dp/B08HGJTP1F
'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 crucial the judgment of people by their talents rather than their bloodlines or connections has been to creating the modern world. Highly recommended' Francis Fukuyama
Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their status at birth. For much of history this was a revolutionary thought, but 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?
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 meritocractic 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.
'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 crucial the judgment of people by their talents rather than their bloodlines or connections has been to creating the modern world. Highly recommended' Francis Fukuyama
Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their status at birth. For much of history this was a revolutionary thought, but 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?
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 meritocractic 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.