The smug myth of meritocracy

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

If there’s one thing I can’t stand is the smug idea that we have anything resembling a real meritocracy; that people get what they deserve and that the rich are rich because they’re smart and hardworking, while the poor are poor because they’re dumb or lazy.
It’s a tune I heard a lot in college, […]

Is there an American middle class?

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Is there an American middle class? Does it matter?
Seeing as I have a general interest in sociology and am frequently annoyed by taxonomies, it should be no surprise that I think a lot about our American class system. I’m not saying that we don’t have a class system. However, the terms we […]

What I’ve been reading

Monday, April 14th, 2008

For the past week I’ve been laying low with a nasty sinus infection. It hasn’t been fun, but if there’s one thing that I actually appreciate about being sick is that it forces me to sit back and catch up on light reading.
Here are some blog posts that I’ve been keeping up […]