To coincide with the University of Nottingham’s debate about the state of meritocracy in contemporary Britain (24 October 2018), CEO Helen Goulden share her thoughts and asks what has merit?
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Posts Tagged: Meritocracy
For a fairer, more inclusive Europe, sign the #SIDeclaration
While industries like pharmaceuticals and automotive are good at getting decision-makers’ attention, the social innovation community – a broad movement of people and organisations innovating for public benefit – often has less influence. We want this to change. Over the past year, we have asked people working in social innovation all over Europe about how... Find out more
The Red Baron
In moving toward the meritocratic ideal, we have imagined that we have retired the old encrustations of inherited hierarchies. As the sociologist Michael Young knew, that’s not the real story.
- writes Kwame Anthony Appiah in 'The Red Baron' for The New York Review of Books.
Find out moreCreative ways to address housing exclusion
On 16 July 2018, The Young Foundation and FEANTSA (the European Federation of Homeless Organisations) hosted a webinar on ‘creative ways to address housing exclusion’. Radhika Bynon from The Young Foundation discussed Reimagining Rent, the Young Foundation’s housing innovation programme, and Freek Spinnewijn discussed FEANTSA’s The Housing Solutions Platform. The Housing Solutions Platform is a... Find out more
Launching cohort seven of The Young Academy
We’re pleased to welcome eight new initiatives to the Young Academy’s accelerator programme for early-stage social ventures tackling educational inequalities. Through the Accelerator, participants will attend intensive workshops and receive one-to-one support from social impact experts, volunteer advisors and education sector leaders. Our goal is to create a space for ideas and projects to be... Find out more
Meet the innovators Reimagining Rent: our second cohort
Through Reimagining Rent, we are committed to accelerating the innovations that have the potential to improve the private rented sector for vulnerable renters, including those on low incomes. We know that concentrated innovation at a local-level can create models for others to follow. This is our second cohort to the programme, which is funded by... Find out more
#3 What lies beyond the meritocracy? By David Goodhart
The final piece in our three-part series of guest blogs exploring what lies beyond the meritocracy? David Goodhart, journalist and author: Meritocracy is the worst system in the world for distributing status, responsibility and rewards, apart from all the others, to paraphrase Churchill on democracy. If one’s main priority is the efficient running of society,... Find out more
#2 What lies beyond the meritocracy? By Philip Collins
This is the second in our series of blogs exploring what lies beyond the meritocracy? Philip Collins, columnist, The Times: The site of the most dramatic action of Michael Young’s The Rise of the Meritocracy is a clue to something that lies beyond the idea. The narrative concludes in a civil war when the downtrodden, who have been... Find out more
#1 What lies beyond the meritocracy? By Yvonne Roberts
To mark the 60 years since Michael Young’s seminal work ‘The Rise of the Meritocracy’ was published, we invited some writers and commentators to answer the question: What lies beyond the meritocracy? Yvonne Roberts, journalist, The Observer: It is the 60th anniversary of The Rise of the Meritocracy 1870-2033. Michael Young, Lord Young of Dartington, social... Find out more
Myths for an age of political polarisation
Want to change the world? Then what you need most isn’t facts; it’s a really great story. So I argued in a book called The Myth Gap (summary here), which came out last year in the wake of the Brexit referendum and the US election. Donald Trump and Nigel Farage had hardly triumphed thanks to... Find out more