As the sociologists Stephen McNamee and Robert Miller Jr. point out in their book, The Meritocracy Myth, Americans widely believe that success is due to individual talent and effort.  The book challenges that widely held American belief in meritocracy - that people get out of the system what they put into it based on individual merit.

http://www.amazon.com/Meritocracy-Myth-Stephen-J-McNamee/dp/0742561682/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Political addiction to tax cuts harms military personnel.

Image
In the January 8, 2010 article " US troops, kin face cuts in base services ," Associated Press writer Kristin M. Hall reports that the U.S. Department of Defense is cutting services for military personnel. This is a direct result of U.S. citizens' reluctance to pay more in taxes, even to support the men and women defending the country. The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the first ones in U.S. history during which taxes were not increased to support the war effort. FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Soldiers and their families on Army bases around the country could see cutbacks in trash pickup, lawn-mowing and other services as the military tries to hold down non-war spending while escalating the fight in Afghanistan. Even as total defense spending rises, the portion of the Army budget dedicated to running its bases is down 20 percent this year, according to figures provided to The Associated Press by an Army official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to
Read more