This is CBS Eye on the World, here's John Bachelorette.

I welcome Adrian Woldridge of the Economist magazine, he is budget.

At the same time, he is Adrian Woldridge author of a new book, The Aristocracy of Talent,

How Maritocracy Made the Modern World, Good Heavens This sweeps over a enormous

mere period of history, from kingships reaching back all the way to Plato, and then right

up till now, Maritocrats is the word, it was invented in the 20th century, but we begin

with what Adrian introduces as a diddy from the 19th century to describe the contest

for finding why people are elevated and why people are not elevated in human history.

It goes like this, God bless the squire and his relations, and keep us in our proper

stations.

Adrian, good evening and thank you and congratulations.

That diddy for me is your book, because the contest against that presumption that there

is such a thing as proper stations has informed arguments for, well at least 2500 years.

Let's begin with where you identify the hierarchical presumption of mankind, how did it work

and what was its genesis, what drove it Adrian, good evening to you.

God, thank you so much for inviting me, and thank you for starting off with such a profound

question, because I think it's important to recognize that for most of human history,

the assumptions that we now have about individualism, efforts, merit and reward have not been

the assumptions that most people have had.

Most people throughout most of history have believed that society is a hierarchy that

people should be born into their proper places, that family connections are more important

than individual abilities, and that dynasty rather than individual achievement is the

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