Welcome back to the Ten Blocks podcast. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City

Journal. Joining me on today's show is

Adrian Wilbridge. Adrian's the political editor of The Economist and writes that magazine's

Badget column and analysis of British life and politics. He's also the author of a brand new book

called The Aristocracy of Talent,

How Meritocracy Made the Modern World,

which is going to be the topic of our discussion today.

Adrian, great to have you on the show.

Well, thank you so much for having me.

As you note in the book,

meritocracy shapes our world these days from top to bottom.

You know, it spans partisan divides in the U.S. and the U.K.

It determines where we live, with whom we interact,

and it structures major institutions throughout the West and in the East as well, of course.

So I think it would be helpful, you know, just to clarify our terms and how you use the term

meritocracy. And, you know, what should it look like in principle and how is it being

implemented these days in practice?

Meritocracy in the broadest sense of the word means judging people on their

individual abilities rather than on the position that they're born into in the world, by their family,

and on the basis of their family connections. I think that's a broad and widely accepted view,

but I think it also has another meaning,

which is just as important to that,

...