--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,”…" description: "\"“David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,” Weekly Standard, Oct. 23, 2000, 31. The word “meritocracy” is an argument-starter, and I have employed it sparing..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/646/walter-isaacson-384_american-society_david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly_2655591.jpg" --- # David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,” Weekly Standard, Oct… ![“David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,” Weekly Standard, Oct. 23, 2000, 31. The word “meritocracy” is an argument-starter, and I have employed it sparingly in this book. It is often used loosely to denote a vision of social mobility based on merit and diligence, like Franklin’s. The word was coined…” quote by Walter Isaacson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/646/walter-isaacson-384_american-society_david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly_2655591.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/646/walter-isaacson-384_american-society_david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly_2655591.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/646/walter-isaacson-384_american-society_david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly_2655591.jpg) > ““David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,” Weekly Standard, Oct. 23, 2000, 31. The word “meritocracy” is an argument-starter, and I have employed it sparingly in this book. It is often used loosely to denote a vision of social mobility based on merit and diligence, like Franklin’s. The word was coined by British social thinker Michael Young (later to become, somewhat ironically, Lord Young of Darlington) in his 1958 book The Rise of the Meritocracy (New York: Viking Press) as a dismissive term to satirize a society that misguidedly created a new elite class based on the “narrow band of values” of IQ and educational credentials. The Harvard philosopher John Rawls, in A Theory of Justice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971), 106, used it more broadly to mean a “social order \[that\] follows the principle of careers open to talents.” The best description of the idea is in Nicholas Lemann’s The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999), a history of educational aptitude tests and their effect on American society. In Franklin’s time, Enlightenment thinkers (such as Jefferson in his proposals for creating the University of Virginia) advocated replacing the hereditary aristocracy with a “natural aristocracy,” whose members would be plucked from the masses at an early age based on “virtues and talents” and groomed for leadership. Franklin’s idea was more expansive. He believed in encouraging and providing opportunities for all people to succeed as best they could based on their diligence, hard work, virtue, and talent. As we shall see, his proposals for what became the University of Pennsylvania (in contrast to Jefferson’s for the University of Virginia) were aimed not at filtering a new elite but at encouraging and enriching all “aspiring” young men. Franklin was propounding a more egalitarian and democratic approach than Jefferson by proposing a system that would, as Rawls (p. 107) would later prescribe, assure that “resources for education are not to be allotted solely or necessarily mainly according to their return as estimated in productive trained abilities, but also according to their worth in enriching the personal and social life of citizens.” (Translation: He cared not simply about making society as a whole more productive, but also about making each individual more enriched.)”” [Walter Isaacson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-isaacson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Meritocracy is a socially constructed hierarchy that rewards perceived talent and effort, often reinforcing existing power structures while claiming fairness. **In simple terms:** Meritocracy claims fairness but can reinforce inequality. Key Takeaway Question the assumptions behind merit-based systems. Themes social critique history education Mood critical reflective Type analytical commentary When to use this quote - policy analysis - educational reform - career planning - public discourse - academic research Key Concepts social stratification elitism social mobility Questions to Reflect On - How do we ensure true equality of opportunity? - What alternatives exist to meritocratic selection? A Different Perspective Meritocracy can ignore structural barriers and privilege. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-society/) [Enlightenment thinkers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enlightenment-thinkers/) [Entrepreneurship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/entrepreneurship/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Meritocracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meritocracy/) [Secret History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret-history/) [Social life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-life/) [Social mobility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-mobility/) [Social order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-order/) [Young men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young-men/) ## Related quotes > [For decades now, Republicans and Democrats have shared the same mythology around the great American meritocracy. 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It is often used loosely to denote a vision of social mobility based on merit and diligence, like Franklin’s. The word was coined by British social thinker Michael Young (later to become, somewhat ironically, Lord Young of Darlington) in his 1958 book The Rise of the Meritocracy (New York: Viking Press) as a dismissive term to satirize a society that misguidedly created a new elite class based on the “narrow band of values” of IQ and educational credentials. The Harvard philosopher John Rawls, in A Theory of Justice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971), 106, used it more broadly to mean a “social order [that] follows the principle of careers open to talents.” The best description of the idea is in Nicholas Lemann’s The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999), a history of educational aptitude tests and their effect on American society. In Franklin’s time, Enlightenment thinkers (such as Jefferson in his proposals for creating the University of Virginia) advocated replacing the hereditary aristocracy with a “natural aristocracy,” whose members would be plucked from the masses at an early age based on “virtues and talents” and groomed for leadership. Franklin’s idea was more expansive. He believed in encouraging and providing opportunities for all people to succeed as best they could based on their diligence, hard work, virtue, and talent. As we shall see, his proposals for what became the University of Pennsylvania (in contrast to Jefferson’s for the University of Virginia) were aimed not at filtering a new elite but at encouraging and enriching all “aspiring” young men. Franklin was propounding a more egalitarian and democratic approach than Jefferson by proposing a system that would, as Rawls (p. 107) would later prescribe, assure that “resources for education are not to be allotted solely or necessarily mainly according to their return as estimated in productive trained abilities, but also according to their worth in enriching the personal and social life of citizens.” (Translation: He cared not simply about making society as a whole more productive, but also about making each individual more enriched.)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Walter Isaacson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-isaacson/david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly-standard-oct-23-2000-31-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "American society" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-isaacson/david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly-standard-oct-23-2000-31-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/646/walter-isaacson-384_american-society_david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly_2655591.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/646/walter-isaacson-384_american-society_david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly_2655591.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/646/walter-isaacson-384_american-society_david-brooks-our-founding-yuppie-weekly_2655591.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,” Weekly Standard, Oct. 23, 2000, 31. 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