The Meritocracy Trap

基本信息

Format Paperback | 464 pages

Dimensions 129 x 198 x 20mm | 319g

Publication date 01 Sep 2020

Publisher Penguin Books Ltd

Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom

Language English

ISBN10 0141984740

ISBN13 9780141984742

页面参数仅供参考，具体以实物为准

书籍简介

这本书颠覆了你的世界。丹尼尔·马柯维茨(Daniel Markovits)认为，精英制度并不是一种奖励*优秀和*聪明的人的美德、高效的制度。相反，它奖励了那些能够负担得起子女教育巨额投资的中产阶级家庭……《纽约时报》年度书籍(The Times, The Year Books of The Year)

在失控的经济不平等和危险的社会分化中，精英制度至高无上，承诺为所有人提供机会，这仍然是现代生活的一条公理。奖励应该跟随能力和努力的观念在我们的心理中根深蒂固，甚至当社会在几乎每一个转折点上分裂时，我们都能听到各方重复着精英制度的观念。精英制度削减了我们对自己的认识。

但是，如果精英主义都是假的呢？如今，精英统治已成为一种财富和特权在几代人之间集中和王朝式传承的机制，这正是它当初设想要抵制的。上流动已经成为一种幻想，四面楚歌的中产阶级现在更有可能陷入贫穷的工作中，而不是上升为精英阶层。与此同时，精英制度现在连那些设法爬到顶端的人也被套住了，这些人要求富有的成年人以嫉妒紧张的强度工作，利用他们昂贵的教育来谋取回报。这不是脱离或退出精英制度的结果，而是直接源于精英制度的成功。

这是一种激进的观点，即《精英陷阱》以罕见的力量、全面的研究和毁灭性的说服力进行控诉。丹尼尔·马科维奇(Daniel Markovits)是一名法学教授，专门学习哲学和经济学，他比大多数人都更有能力打破我们这个时代的主导思想之一。他在精英大学度过了一生，从腐蚀体系的内部知道我们被困在其中，也知道我们如何迈出第一步，走向一个既能带来繁荣又能带来尊严的世界。

'This book flips your world upside down. Daniel Markovits argues that meritocracy isn't a virtuous, efficient system that rewards the best and brightest. Instead it rewards middle-class families who can afford huge investments in their children's education ... Frightening, eye-opening stuff' The Times, Books of the Year

Even in the midst of runaway economic inequality and dangerous social division, it remains an axiom of modern life that meritocracy reigns supreme and promises to open opportunity to all. The idea that reward should follow ability and effort is so entrenched in our psyche that, even as society divides itself at almost every turn, all sides can be heard repeating meritocratic notions. Meritocracy cuts to the heart of who we think we are.

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 dynastic transmission of wealth and privilege across generations. Upward mobility has become a fantasy, and the embattled middle classes are now more likely to sink into the working poor than to rise into the professional elite. At the same time, meritocracy now ensnares even those who manage to claw their way to the top, requiring rich adults to work with crushing intensity, exploiting their expensive educations in order to extract a return. All this is not the result of deviations or retreats from meritocracy but rather stems directly from meritocracy's successes.

This is the radical argument that The Meritocracy Trap prosecutes with rare force, comprehensive research, and devastating persuasion. Daniel Markovits, a law professor trained in philosophy and economics, is better placed than most to puncture one of the dominant ideas of our age. Having spent his life at elite universities, he knows from the inside the corrosive system we are trapped within, as well as how we can take the first steps towards a world that might afford us both prosperity and dignity.

作者简介

Daniel Markovits是耶鲁大学法学院教授。他的研究领域包括私法哲学基础、道德和政治哲学以及行为经济学。

Daniel Markovits is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He works in the philosophical foundations of private law, moral and political philosophy, and behavioral economics.