The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep1036: Adrian Wooldridge examines the mid-20th-century backlash against meritocracy. Michael Young, who coined the term, warned that a "perfect" meritocracy would create an intolerable society where the successful feel superior and the unsuccessful have no socia

S8 Ep1036: Adrian Wooldridge highlights the historical blindness toward women's talent among 19th-century reformers who excluded them from competitive examinations. However, the meritocratic logic of objective measurement eventually provided women with the tools to

S8 Ep1036: Adrian Wooldridge discusses how the 19th-century search for talent was shaped by utilitarianism and liberal reforms. Reformers like John Stuart Mill remained suspicious of the masses, seeking to replace the landed aristocracy with an "aristocracy of talen

S8 Ep1036: Adrian Wooldridge notes that while pre-modern governance relied on patronage and nepotism, kings often appointed "lowly-born men" of extraordinary ability, like Thomas Cromwell, to ensure stability. Napoleon emerged as a transitional figure, embodying a "

S8 Ep1036: Adrian Wooldridge explains that for most of history, society was defined by a hierarchical presumption where individuals were born into "proper stations." This Great Chain of Being posited that social and natural orders were divinely ordained; disrupting