Against Meritocracy
Culture, power and myths of mobility
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:15th Aug '17
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£135.00(9781138889545)
In Against Meritocracy, Jo Littler critiques the dominant narrative of meritocracy, revealing its role in perpetuating social divisions and advocating for true social equality.
This timely and unique book employs a multifaceted, transdisciplinary cultural studies approach to analyze the workings of meritocracy and its rise to dominance in society. It ultimately argues against the concept of meritocracy, advocating instead for genuine social equality. The author, Jo Littler, delves into how the notion of meritocracy has become a prevalent social and cultural trope, influencing everything from political discourse to popular culture.
The idea that one's social position at birth should not limit opportunities for advancement is central to contemporary meritocracy. It suggests that talent and effort can lead anyone to success, a belief echoed in the speeches of politicians and seen throughout various media. However, Against Meritocracy contends that this ideal serves as a cultural legitimization for modern neoliberalism, presenting a façade of opportunity while creating new forms of social division and inequality.
Divided into two parts, the book first explores the historical and theoretical roots of meritocracy within social theory and political discourse. It traces a significant shift in the interpretation of meritocracy, from a term associated with socialism to a modern ideal. The second part features case studies that highlight the cultural allure of narratives around progress, examining phenomena such as reality TV, celebrity culture, and the entrepreneurial rise of the 'mumpreneur'. By focusing on the intersections of gender, race, and class, Against Meritocracy offers fresh insights into the implications of meritocracy in today's society.
"This is a marvellously rich and timely book. It is meticulously researched and wide ranging in focus. Jo Littler pins down with precision the key role played by the idea of meritocracy in the political and cultural neoliberal strategy."
- Professor Angela McRobbie, Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
"Against Meritocracy is a tour de force of political analysis. But it's also a landmark political book, charting pathways beyond the leading social beliefs of our time."
- Professor Andrew Ross, Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, USA
"In Against Meritocracy, Jo Littler elegantly and persuasively weaves together histories and discourses of the concept "meritocracy," and theorizes about the longevity of this concept even in the face of overwhelming evidence that this concept does not "work" in culture, in politics, in our everyday lives. Here she offers an important new angle on the familiar assumptions about meritocracy, and importantly demonstrates how these assumptions are put into practice in ways that benefit the privileged. This brilliant book is so important; Littler’s refusal to make totalizing statements about what, and how, meritocracy means, is a major, and necessary, contribution."
- Professor Sarah Banet-Weiser, Communication, USC Annenberg, USA
"Meritocracy, as legitimating creed for capitalism-as-culture, has been widely studied, but less than adequately theorized. In a commanding new study, Jo Littler subjects the myth of upward mobility to searching critical analysis, probing its historical resilience, its pervasive presence in popular discourse, and its insidious effects as an ideology that continues, amidst plutocratic rule and widening structural inequality, to promote faith in the elusive "ladder of opportunity"."
- Professor Jean Comaroff, African and African American Studies, Harvard University, USA
"Against Meritocracy has an important role to play in informing the growing movement working to sweep away the Tory government."
- IAN SINCLAIR, Peace News
"Littler’s compelling argument of the damage, both ideological and material, caused by the workings of meritocracy needs to be heeded. […] Against Meritocracy is an important and timely book that reminds us it is time to abandon meritocracy as elitist, inequitable, and well past its sell-by-date."
- Professor Diane Reay, University of Cambridge
"Littler offers a systematic and brilliant analysis of the kind of cultural work that the incorporation of meritocratic ideals has carried out in the Anglo-American world, particularly since the 1980s"
- Dr Catherine Rottenberg, Cultural Studies
"One of those unusual academic books which is actually pleasurable to read from cover to cover ….a rewarding site for collective thinking and action vis-à-vis building a better – fairer – social world."
- Dr Sarah Burton, LSE Review of Books
"Engaging and important [..] This book offers a valuable set of tools through which we can not only debunk neoliberal meritocracy but also begin to generate alternative ways to work toward a more egalitarian and progressive society that benefits the many and not just the few."
- Dr Kim Allen in Cultural Politics
"Littler’s analyses are subtle, and the research informing them is impressively wide-ranging. Littler leaves readers indignant. She leaves neoliberal targets weakened, morally concussed [...] Constant alertness to gender complications apt to be overlooked by people writing about meritocracy in a broad-brush way is one of her book’s great strengths."
- Professor Andrew Pinnock in Cultural Trends
‘A well-researched and compelling book... shows the many ways in which this seemingly progressive yet insidious idea and its material manifestations have seeped into contemporary life’
- Dr Marjana Johansson, Organization
"This is a marvellously rich and timely book. It is meticulously researched and wide ranging in focus. Jo Littler pins down with precision the key role played by the idea of meritocracy in the political and cultural neoliberal strategy."
- Professor Angela McRobbie, Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
"Against Meritocracy is a tour de force of political analysis. But it's also a landmark political book, charting pathways beyond the leading social beliefs of our time."
- Professor Andrew Ross, Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, USA
"In Against Meritocracy, Jo Littler elegantly and persuasively weaves together histories and discourses of the concept "meritocracy," and theorizes about the longevity of this concept even in the face of overwhelming evidence that this concept does not "work" in culture, in politics, in our everyday lives. Here she offers an important new angle on the familiar assumptions about meritocracy, and importantly demonstrates how these assumptions are put into practice in ways that benefit the privileged. This brilliant book is so important; Littler’s refusal to make totalizing statements about what, and how, meritocracy means, is a major, and necessary, contribution."
- Professor Sarah Banet-Weiser, Communication, USC Annenberg, USA
"Meritocracy, as legitimating creed for capitalism-as-culture, has been widely studied, but less than adequately theorized. In a commanding new study, Jo Littler subjects the myth of upward mobility to searching critical analysis, probing its historical resilience, its pervasive presence in popular discourse, and its insidious effects as an ideology that continues, amidst plutocratic rule and widening structural inequality, to promote faith in the elusive "ladder of opportunity"."
- Professor Jean Comaroff, African and African American Studies, Harvard University, USA
"Against Meritocracy has an important role to play in informing the growing movement working to sweep away the Tory government."
- IAN SINCLAIR, Peace News
"Littler’s compelling argument of the damage, both ideological and material, caused by the workings of meritocracy needs to be heeded. […] Against Meritocracy is an important and timely book that reminds us it is time to abandon meritocracy as elitist, inequitable, and well past its sell-by-date."
- Professor Diane Reay, University of Cambridge
"Littler offers a systematic and brilliant analysis of the kind of cultural work that the incorporation of meritocratic ideals has carried out in the Anglo-American world, particularly since the 1980s"
- Dr Catherine Rottenberg, Cultural Studies
"One of those unusual academic books which is actually pleasurable to read from cover to cover ….a rewarding site for collective thinking and action vis-à-vis building a better – fairer – social world."
- Dr Sarah Burton, LSE Review of Books
"Engaging and important [..] This book offers a valuable set of tools through which we can not only debunk neoliberal meritocracy but also begin to generate alternative ways to work toward a more egalitarian and progressive society that benefits the many and not just the few."
- Dr Kim Allen in Cultural Politics
"Littler’s analyses are subtle, and the research informing them is impressively wide-ranging. Littler leaves readers indignant. She leaves neoliberal targets weakened, morally concussed [...] Constant alertness to gender complications apt to be overlooked by people writing about meritocracy in a broad-brush way is one of her book’s great strengths."
- Professor Andrew Pinnock in Cultural Trends
‘A well-researched and compelling book... shows the many ways in which this seemingly progressive yet insidious idea and its material manifestations have seeped into contemporary life’
- Dr Marjana Johansson, Organization
ISBN: 9781138889552
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 294g
236 pages