New book:
Against meritocracy: culture, power and myths of mobility
Jo Littler
Meritocracy today involves the idea that whatever your social position at birth, society ought to offer enough opportunity and mobility for ‘talent’ to combine with ‘effort’ in order to ‘rise to the top’. This idea is one of the most prevalent social and cultural tropes of our time, as palpable in the speeches of politicians as in popular culture. In this book Jo Littler argues that meritocracy is the key cultural means of legitimation for contemporary neoliberal culture – and that whilst it promises opportunity, it in fact creates new forms of social division.
Against Meritocracy is split into two parts. Part I explores the genealogies of meritocracy within social theory, political discourse and working cultures. It traces the dramatic U-turn in meritocracy’s meaning, from socialist slur to a contemporary ideal of how a society should be organised. Part II uses a series of case studies to analyse the cultural pull of popular ‘parables of progress’, from reality TV to the super-rich and celebrity CEOs, from social media controversies to the rise of the ‘mumpreneur’. Paying special attention to the role of gender, ‘race’ and class, this book provides new conceptualisations of the meaning of meritocracy in contemporary culture and society.
Contents:
Introduction: Ladders and Snakes
Part I: Genealogies
Chapter 1: Meritocracy’s genealogies in social theory
Chapter 2: ‘Rising up’: gender, ethnicity, class and the meritocratic deficit
Chapter 3: The movement of meritocracy in political rhetoric
Part II: Popular parables
Chapter 4: Just like us? Normcore plutocrats and the popularisation of elitism
Chapter 5: #Damonsplaining and the unbearable whiteness of ‘merit’
Chapter 6: Desperate success: Managing the mumpreneur
Conclusion: Beyond neoliberal meritocracy
Just published by Routledge
https://www.routledge.com/Against-Meritocracy-Culture-power-and-myths-of-mobility/Littler/p/book/9781138889552
For book review copies contact [log in to unmask]
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Dr Jo Littler
Reader, Centre for Culture and Creative Industries
Director of Research, Department of Sociology
School of Arts and Social Sciences
D609A, Rhind Building, Northampton Square
City, University of London EC1V 0HB
https://www.city.ac.uk/arts-social-sciences/sociology
http://blogs.city.ac.uk/cci/
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