I think there is something to this, though I wonder how much you can isolate the effect of meritocracy here as opposed to the simple fact that as the world moves more quickly, it becomes harder to convince ourselves that it is even possible to create and maintain institutions whose form will last long enough for our children to inherit.
Another thought I had about the meritocracy debate point is how Brooks' thesis may intersect with the elite overproduction hypothesis. The old aristocracy created arbitrary constraints on the number of elites our country produced. Meritocracy flung the doors open. This is good insofar as it means that more competent people may replace the "arrogant boors who spent most of their energy conspicuously consuming and yachting," but perhaps the resulting culture of intra-elite competition and resentment ends up undermining elite institutions in ways that negate those benefits.
If an aristocratic couple.have more than two children , that's elite over production in a sense. But it was understood that the third and fourth sons would have to become army officers.or clergymen,.so the element of resentment was.missing.
I think there is something to this, though I wonder how much you can isolate the effect of meritocracy here as opposed to the simple fact that as the world moves more quickly, it becomes harder to convince ourselves that it is even possible to create and maintain institutions whose form will last long enough for our children to inherit.
Another thought I had about the meritocracy debate point is how Brooks' thesis may intersect with the elite overproduction hypothesis. The old aristocracy created arbitrary constraints on the number of elites our country produced. Meritocracy flung the doors open. This is good insofar as it means that more competent people may replace the "arrogant boors who spent most of their energy conspicuously consuming and yachting," but perhaps the resulting culture of intra-elite competition and resentment ends up undermining elite institutions in ways that negate those benefits.
If an aristocratic couple.have more than two children , that's elite over production in a sense. But it was understood that the third and fourth sons would have to become army officers.or clergymen,.so the element of resentment was.missing.