000			01961nam a22002057a 4500
005			20240719144614.0
008			240719b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781138889552
082			_a305.552 _bLIT
100			_aLittler, Jo _917057
245			_aAgainst meritocracy: _bculture, power and myths of mobility
260			_bRoutledge _aOxon _c2018
300			_axiv, 236 p.
365			_aGBP _b39.99
520			_aMeritocracy 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. (https://www.routledge.com/Against-Meritocracy-Culture-power-and-myths-of-mobility/Littler/p/book/9781138889552)
650			_aSocial mobility _95362
650			_aPlutocracy _917360
650			_aPower (Social sciences) _917361
942			_cBK _2ddc
999			_c6932 _d6932