Playing the Career Game (Spring)
Tue, Feb 21
In today's lecture, we'll be discussing the meritocracy, the idea that success in society is organized around demonstrated abilities and merit as opposed to heredity or some other arbitrary criteria. Specifically, we are interested in how the meritocracy manifests itself in higher education and the tech industry.
We have four main in-class learning goals. By the end of the lecture today you will:
- Be familiar with several possible origins for the rise of the meritocracy in the tech industry.
- Understand the arguments made in favor of the meritocratic regime, as they relate to economic productivity and personal well-being.
- Understand the arguments made against the meritocratic regime, as they relate to personal well-being, the integrity of communities, and overall human flourishing.
- Know that it is possible to think about alternatives to the meritocratic structure.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
Paul Graham: Hackers and Painters and How to Work Hard
Alice Marwick: Silicon Valley Isn't a Meritocracy. And it's Dangerous to Hero-Worship Entrepreneurs
A proposal for a different set of values and principles in open source software development: The Post-Meritocracy Manifesto
Coraline Ehmke on what happens when the meritocracy and open source software collide: The Dehumanizing Myth of the Meritocracy
Do This:
No Quiz this week
This Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: How have you approached the meritocracy in your own education?