The Meritocracy Trap

A revolutionary new argument from an eminent Yale Law professor, attacking the myth of meritocracy to show how it has directly caused today's political, economic, and psychological crises—and how we might escape its trapThe United States is in the midst of a dangerous period of social upheaval caused by runaway economic inequality and social division. Yet it is nothing less than an axiom of American life that meritocracy—the idea of just reward for effort and ability—reigns supreme and promises to promote opportunity for all. So deeply entrenched in our national psyche is this belief that, even as the country divides itself at almost every turn, both Democrats and Republicans can be heard repeating meritocratic notions. After all, meritocracy cuts to the heart of American self-definition. It is who we are. Meritocracy is the American dream. But what if upward social mobility is an anachronistic fantasy? And embattled middleclass workers...