Download or read book In Defense of Elitism written by Joel Stein and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Thurber finalist and former star Time columnist Joel Stein comes a "brilliant exploration" (Walter Isaacson) of America's political culture war and a hilarious call to arms for the elite. "I can think of no one more suited to defend elitism than Stein, a funny man with hands as delicate as a baby full of soft-boiled eggs." —Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! The night Donald Trump won the presidency, our author Joel Stein, Thurber Prize finalist and former staff writer for Time Magazine, instantly knew why. The main reason wasn't economic anxiety or racism. It was that he was anti-elitist. Hillary Clinton represented Wall Street, academics, policy papers, Davos, international treaties and the people who think they're better than you. People like Joel Stein. Trump represented something far more appealing, which was beating up people like Joel Stein. In a full-throated defense of academia, the mainstream press, medium-rare steak, and civility, Joel Stein fights against populism. He fears a new tribal elite is coming to replace him, one that will fend off expertise of all kinds and send the country hurtling backward to a time of wars, economic stagnation and the well-done steaks doused with ketchup that Trump eats. To find out how this shift happened and what can be done, Stein spends a week in Roberts County, Texas, which had the highest percentage of Trump voters in the country. He goes to the home of Trump-loving Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams; meets people who create fake news; and finds the new elitist organizations merging both right and left to fight the populists. All the while using the biggest words he knows.
Download or read book In Defense of Elitism written by William A. Henry, III and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2015-03-18 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic for Time magazine comes the tremendously controversial, yet highly persuasive, argument that our devotion to the largely unexamined myth of egalitarianism lies at the heart of the ongoing "dumbing of America." Americans have always stubbornly clung to the myth of egalitarianism, of the supremacy of the individual average man. But here, at long last, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic William A. Henry III takes on, and debunks, some basic, fundamentally ingrained ideas: that everyone is pretty much alike (and should be); that self-fulfillment is more imortant thant objective achievement; that everyone has something significant to contribute; that all cultures offer something equally worthwhile; that a truly just society would automatically produce equal success results across lines of race, class, and gender; and that the common man is almost always right. Henry makes clear, in a book full of vivid examples and unflinching opinions, that while these notions are seductively democratic they are also hopelessly wrong.
Download or read book Education and Elitism written by Conrad Hughes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-04-26 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education and Elitism discusses polemical debates around privilege, private schools, elitist universities, equal access to education and underlying notions of fairness. The overarching question that runs through the book is about the future of education worldwide: how can schools and universities tread the tightrope between access and quality? This book investigates the philosophical positions that characterize elitism and anti-elitism to establish three types: meritocratic, plutocratic and cultural. These types of elitism (and their counter-positions) are used as reference points throughout the book's analysis of successive educational themes. The conclusion leads to suggestions that bridge the worlds of elitism and egalitarianism worldwide. The book covers critical questions related to the sociology and philosophy of education with particular focus on contemporary disruptors to education such as the COVID-19 pandemic and protest movements for social justice. With an attempt to offer readers an objective overview, this book will be an excellent compendium for students, academics, and researchers of the sociology of education, education policy and comparative education. It will also be of interest toschool leaders, university provosts and professionals working in curriculum design.
Download or read book Elitism Routledge Revivals written by G. Lowell Field and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1980, this book presents an important critique of prevailing political doctrine in Western societies at a time of major change in circumstances of Western civilization. G. Lowell Field and John Higley stress the importance of a more realistic appraisal of elite and mass roles in politics, arguing that political stability and any real degree of representative democracy depend fundamentally on the existence of specific kinds of elites.
Download or read book Democratic Elitism written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2010-01-11 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Schumpeter's “competitive theory of democracy” – often labeled democratic elitism - has struck many as an apt and insightful description of how representative democracy works, even though convinced democrats detect an elitist thrust they find disturbing. But neither Schumpeter nor subsequent defenders of democratic elitism have paid enough attention to actual behaviors of leaders and elites. Attention has been riveted on how adequately democratic elitism captures the relationship between governors and governed in its insistence that competitive elections prevent the relationship from being one-way, that is, leaders and elites largely unaccountable to passive and submissive voters. Why and how leaders and elites create and sustain competitive elections, what happens if their competitions become excessively stage-managed or belligerent – how, in short, leaders and elites really act - are some of the issues this book addresses. Contributors are Heinrich Best, Jens Borchert, Michael Edinger, Fredrik Engelstad, Trygve Gulbrandsen, John Higley, Gabriella Ilonszki, András Körösényi, Mindaugas Kuklys, Gyorgy Lengyel, Anton Steen, and Jacek Wasilewski.
Download or read book Populism and Elitism written by Jeffrey Bell and published by . This book was released on 1992-05 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political analyst and strategist Jeff Bell redefines American politics in this thoughtful and eminently readable book. According to Bell, labels such as liberal vs. conservative, left vs. right, socialist vs. capitalist, even Republican vs. Democrat do not explain much anymore. Instead, the dominant philosophies are populist (rule by the public) and elitist (rule by a select few).
Download or read book Poor Queer Studies written by Matt Brim and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Poor Queer Studies Matt Brim shifts queer studies away from its familiar sites of elite education toward poor and working-class people, places, and pedagogies. Brim shows how queer studies also takes place beyond the halls of flagship institutions: in night school; after a three-hour commute; in overflowing classrooms at no-name colleges; with no research budget; without access to decent food; with kids in tow; in a state of homelessness. Drawing on the everyday experiences of teaching and learning queer studies at the College of Staten Island, Brim outlines the ways the field has been driven by the material and intellectual resources of those institutions that neglect and rarely serve poor and minority students. By exploring poor and working-class queer ideas and laying bare the structural and disciplinary mechanisms of inequality that suppress them, Brim jumpstarts a queer-class knowledge project committed to anti-elitist and anti-racist education. Poor Queer Studies is essential for all of those who care about the state of higher education and building a more equitable academy.
Download or read book Elitism written by Eliane Glaser and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-18 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Italian Elitism and the Reshaping of Democracy in the United States written by Giorgio Volpe and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with the reception of Italian elitism in the United States, identifying its key protagonists, phases, and themes. It starts from the reconstruction of the scientific and political debates aroused in the United States by the works of Mosca, Pareto, and Michels, and moves on to define their theoretical influence in the American scientific and academic contexts. The analysis takes into consideration the period from the first contact between elitists and American academia in the early 1920s to the publication of The Power Elite by Mills, in 1956, which marks the emancipation of American elitism. After introducing the fundamental principles of elite theory, the first part of the study reconstructs the debate that it aroused beyond the Atlantic. The second part examines the original American reworking of the elitist lesson, concentrating on the works of the authors most strongly influenced by it: Joseph A. Schumpeter, Harold D. Lasswell, and Charles W. Mills. The book aims to shed light on the contribution of Italian elitism to the development of American political thought.
Download or read book Wounded Leaders written by Nick Duffell and published by Lone Arrow Press Limited. This book was released on 2016-08-24 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political leaders in Britain are consistently drawn from a class born to be educated away from their families in institutions - elite boarding schools. This has a direct effect on their ability to love, to relate, to make good judgments and to develop the necessary leadership qualities for today's world. In this controversial and highly acclaimed book, the author guides the reader along the elite path through boarding school and Oxbridge to government, unpacking what he calls the Entitlement Illusion. Central to the Illusion is a uniquely British phenomenon, an industrialised process for turning out servants of the Empire that has been unwilling to change with the times. It was deified in the Victorian Rational Man Project and normalised by the British public, who still buy into the trance. Up to date evidence from Neuroscience shows what a poor training for leadership this actually is.
Download or read book Values in Sport written by Claudio Tamburrini and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2002-01-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How will sport keep pace with current scientific and biological advances? Is the possibility of the 'bionic athlete' that far away and is this notion as bad as it might first appear? Is our fascination with sport winners fascistoid? Questions such as these and many others are posed and examined by the contributors to this volume. Some are sceptical of future developments in sport and demand radical reforms to halt progress, others are more optimistic and propose that sport should adapt to new advances just as other realms of the cultural sphere have to. Some of the topics examined here, such as the genetic engineering of athletes, and the significance of the public's fascination with sport winners, are being discussed for the first time, whilst others such as sex segregation, nationalism and doping are being revisited and reintroduced onto the agenda after a period of suggestive silence. This book provides the reader with a deep insight into the moral and ethical value we place on sport in today's society. Challenging and demanding, its contributors urge us to think again about current sports practices and the future of sport as a cultural phenomenon.
Download or read book The Immortal Throne written by Stella Gemmell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-12-06 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No one is safe, and no one is to be trusted as the bloody war that began in Stella Gemmell’s The City continues... The dreaded emperor is dead. The successor to the throne is his nemesis, Archange. Many hope her reign will usher in a new era of freedom and stability. Soon however, word arises of a massive army gathering in the shadows of the north. They are eager to lay waste to the City and annihilate anyone—man, woman, or child—within it. Yet just as the swords clang in fields wet with the blood of warriors, family feuds, ancient rivalries, and political battles rage on within the cold stone walls of the City. A hero must rise up and restore the peace before anything left to fight for is consumed by the madness.
Download or read book The Theory of Democratic Elitism written by Peter Bachrach and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Introduction to the Politics and Philosophy of Jos Ortega Y Gasset written by Andrew Dobson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-19 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a general survey of the life and work of the Spanish philosopher and essayist Ortega y Gasset (1183-1955), author of the widely read The Revolt of the Masses. Dr Dobson divides his study into sections devoted to Ortega's political thinking and to his philosophy, rooting these in the context of contemporary Spain and discussing the wider implications of their influence. He examines Ortega's position with regard to the Civil War, his ambivalent espousal of socialism, his emphasis on the importance of the select individual in the modernisation of society and creation of a nació vital; the appropriation of his ideas by Primo de Rivera in the cause of fascism. This book is intended to be accessible to both Hispanists and general readers with an interest in literature, history, intellectual and political thought and philosophy.
Download or read book Constrained Elitism and Contemporary Democratic Theory written by Timothy Kersey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-08 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, examples of the public’s engagement with political issues through commercial and communicative mechanisms have become increasingly common. In February 2012, the Susan G. Komen Foundation reversed a decision to cease funding of cancer screening programs through Planned Parenthood amidst massive public disapproval. The same year, restaurant chain Chic-fil-A became embroiled in a massive public debate over statements its President made regarding same-sex marriage. What exactly is going on in such public engagement, and how does this relate to existing ideas regarding the public sphere and political participation? Is the public becoming increasingly vocal in its complaints? Or are new relationships between the public and economic and political leaders emerging? Timothy Kersey’s book asserts that the widespread utilization of internet communications technologies, especially social media applications, has brought forth a variety of new communicative behaviors and relationships within liberal polities. Through quick and seemingly chaotic streams of networked communication, the actions of these elites are subject to increasingly intense scrutiny and short-term pressure to ameliorate or at least address the concerns of segments of the population. By examining these new patterns of behavior among both elites and the general public, Kersey unearths the implications of these patterns for contemporary democratic theory, and argues that contemporary conceptualizations of "the public’" need to be modified to more accurately reflect practices of online communication and participation. By engaging with this topical issue, Kersey is able to closely examine the self-organization of both elite and non-elite segments of the population within the realm of networked communication, and the relations and interactions between these segments. His book combines perspectives from political theory and communication studies and so will be widely relevant across both disciplines.
Download or read book American Idyll written by Catherine Liu and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2011-09-21 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trenchant critique of failure and opportunism across the political spectrum, American Idyll argues that social mobility, once a revered hallmark of American society, has ebbed, as higher education has become a mechanistic process for efficient sorting that has more to do with class formation than anything else. Academic freedom and aesthetic education are reserved for high-scoring, privileged students and vocational education is the only option for economically marginal ones. Throughout most of American history, antielitist sentiment was reserved for attacks against an entrenched aristocracy or rapacious plutocracy, but it has now become a revolt against meritocracy itself, directed against what insurgents see as a ruling class of credentialed elites with degrees from exclusive academic institutions. Catherine Liu reveals that, within the academy and stemming from the relatively new discipline of cultural studies, animosity against expertise has animated much of the Left’s cultural criticism. By unpacking the disciplinary formation and academic ambitions of American cultural studies, Liu uncovers the genealogy of the current antielitism, placing the populism that dominates headlines within a broad historical context. In the process, she emphasizes the relevance of the historical origins of populist revolt against finance capital and its political influence. American Idyll reveals the unlikely alliance between American pragmatism and proponents of the Frankfurt School and argues for the importance of broad frames of historical thinking in encouraging robust academic debate within democratic institutions. In a bold thought experiment that revives and defends Richard Hofstadter’s theories of anti-intellectualism in American life, Liu asks, What if cultural populism had been the consensus politics of the past three decades? American Idyll shows that recent antielitism does nothing to redress the source of its discontent—namely, growing economic inequality and diminishing social mobility. Instead, pseudopopulist rage, in conservative and countercultural forms alike, has been transformed into resentment, content merely to take down allegedly elitist cultural forms without questioning the real political and economic consolidation of powers that has taken place in America during the past thirty years.
Download or read book Elitism Routledge Revivals written by G. Lowell Field and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-14 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1980, this book presents an important critique of prevailing political doctrine in Western societies at a time of major change in circumstances of Western civilization. G. Lowell Field and John Higley stress the importance of a more realistic appraisal of elite and mass roles in politics, arguing that political stability and any real degree of representative democracy depend fundamentally on the existence of specific kinds of elites.
