L' avvento della meritocrazia

Like 1984 and Brave New World , The Rise of the Meritocracy , written in 1958, provides one of the great dystopian visions of the twentieth century. What makes the book peculiar, however, is that modern politicians have unashamedly taken the values of “meritocracy” – including the word itself – and ha Leggi tutto

The 1st part of the book can be a little hard to get through, as the author opted for a writing style similar to what you would expect of an article on social sciences, but that serious tone makes the 2nd part delightful. The satire of having a "meritorious individual" expose this merytocratic socie Leggi tutto

Mit seiner exzellenten 1958 in Form eines soziologischen Essays verfassten dystopischen (utopischen?) Satire gelang Michael Young ein großes Buch, das in Teilen von der Realität eingeholt worden ist. Rückwirkend betrachtet der Autor selbst kurz vor einem geplanten Generalstreik im Mai 2034 die Entwi Leggi tutto

It is an amazing insight into how society works, how families work, and how good intentions go astray. It is really important that people realise that the term meritocracy, which we now wave around as if it was the one thing we could all agree on as a good thing, was actually coined for this satiric Leggi tutto

Lord Young coined the term 'meritocracy' and was a prolific social innovator - founding a plethora of organisations from School for Social Entrepreneurs to Open University. In this satirical essay he writes about a dystopian future where Britain is governed by an elite selected through IQ. It's writ Leggi tutto

I always thought this book was a little gem ... Much overlooked in reviews on dystopian literature ...