Send a text

Two ways to support the show and unlock bonus episodes:

Download and subscribe to Ekho: ancientlanguage.com/ekho/

Subscribe to New Humanists+ for bonus episodes: buzzsprout.com/1791279/subscribe

What's the matter with meritocracy? Shouldn't college acceptances and jobs and awards be distributed on the basis of merit? The alternative, some sort of quota system, seems unjust and intolerable. 

In his book, Notes Toward the Definition of Culture, T.S. Eliot makes a case against meritocracy. This is the subject of Chapter Two: "The Class and the Elite." While admitting that every "honest man is vexed" to see people who have obtained positions "for which neither their character nor their intellect qualified them," Eliot argues that the doctrine of meritocracy is a radical position. Far from being a conservative or even moderate outlook, true meritocracy requires a total transformation of society, in which family and cultural life must be re-engineered by committees of elites. 

Eliot distinguishes between the old concept of aristocracy and the new concept of elites, categories we tend to confuse. He argues for the necessity of an upper class to maintain manners and standards and taste, which he says is required for the perpetuation of great art and high culture.

T.S. Eliot's Notes Toward the Definition of Culture (in Christianity and Culture): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780156177351

New Humanists episode on Chapter 1 of Notes Toward the Definition of Culture: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/episodes/18764670-defining-culture-episode-cvii

Paul Fussell's Class: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780671792251

David Hicks's Norms & Nobility: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781538195352

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Support the show