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Elitism: A Progressive Defence
The populist right have marshalled public anger against the real elites – corporate and financial power – and turned it onto those who represent us in Parliament, uphold our rights, treat us when we’re sick, and create and curate the best books, art and ideas. Culture and education have been made into symbolic arenas of ‘democratisation’ while gross inequality remains intact.
This important book argues that the real elites escape scrutiny while everything that makes our lives worth living becomes worthy and diluted.
Meanwhile, liberals have lost their nerve, accepting the anti-elitism slur at face value. But social privilege is not the same thing as excellence. For too long conservatives have had a monopoly on upholding standards of beauty and truth. But now that they’ve become ruthless modernisers, it’s time for progressives to take on that task. This book provides the ammunition for a timely rebuttal.
This important book argues that the real elites escape scrutiny while everything that makes our lives worth living becomes worthy and diluted.
Meanwhile, liberals have lost their nerve, accepting the anti-elitism slur at face value. But social privilege is not the same thing as excellence. For too long conservatives have had a monopoly on upholding standards of beauty and truth. But now that they’ve become ruthless modernisers, it’s time for progressives to take on that task. This book provides the ammunition for a timely rebuttal.
69 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 22, 2021
Kind of a mixed bag. I do think populism is the only viable strategy for the left, meritocracy is & always has been a sham, Remain has devastated Labour, & not distancing the left for the liberals & their condescension is a disaster, so I dislike much of Glaser's framing. However, I do think she's right that the majority of academics, journos, & artists have terrible working conditions & the right misrepresents *Guardian* columnists as falsely representative of these knowledge workers & effaces the real elites, the capitalist class. I also appreciate her defense of standards of value in aesthetics & her references to William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Mark Fisher, & al.
November 29, 2021
Not as much a defense of excellence as a defense of institutions and blind obedience to authority.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews