Meritocracy & Popular Culture
Meritocracy & Popular Culture
Alger’s book, Ragged Dick, tells the story of an ambitious, industrious, and honest boy who through hard work and some luck climbs the ladder to a better life and a higher social status. According to Alger, he does this not by taking advantage of other people, but by keeping an eye out for opportunities, working hard, and improving himself.
The picture I chose was drawn by Clay Butler in 1994. It depicts a Frankenstein-like creature standing on top of a pile of dismembered bodies. The picture is captioned: “BEHOLD… THE SELF MADE MAN!” and the creature is quoted saying: “I DON’T OWE ANYONE! ANYTHING!” It is logical to conclude that the drawing is intended to display the hypocrisy in the “self-made man myth”. The message of the picture is exactly the opposite of that in Ragged Dick.
The picture does not possess much in terms of depth of message which frees me up to talk about some crucial points that are usually neglected in the argument for and against “upward mobility”.
I hold that both Horatio Alger, and Clay Butler are misguided in their attempts to, respectively, advertise and oppose meritocracy. There are fundamental weaknesses in both of the aforementioned arguments.
Contrary to what the book tries to establish, Ragged Dick is not an honest person. When he is a newspaper boy, he lies about Queen Victoria being assassinated to increase his sales (fraud). Later he scams a “pickpocket” which is, in itself, immoral and dishonest (two wrong do not make a right). This reduces Alger’s “hero” to just an ordinary person, and therefore contradicts the belief that there is a “genetic/natural” aspect to having “character” which is one of the bases of meritocracy .
On the other hand, Butler’s picture implies that no one can rise to any heights without, severely, abusing the people around them. This argument is indeed flawed. Throughout history there have been a great number of individuals, all around the world, who have risen from
Alger’s book, Ragged Dick, tells the story of an ambitious, industrious, and honest boy who through hard work and some luck climbs the ladder to a better life and a higher social status. According to Alger, he does this not by taking advantage of other people, but by keeping an eye out for opportunities, working hard, and improving himself.
The picture I chose was drawn by Clay Butler in 1994. It depicts a Frankenstein-like creature standing on top of a pile of dismembered bodies. The picture is captioned: “BEHOLD… THE SELF MADE MAN!” and the creature is quoted saying: “I DON’T OWE ANYONE! ANYTHING!” It is logical to conclude that the drawing is intended to display the hypocrisy in the “self-made man myth”. The message of the picture is exactly the opposite of that in Ragged Dick.
The picture does not possess much in terms of depth of message which frees me up to talk about some crucial points that are usually neglected in the argument for and against “upward mobility”.
I hold that both Horatio Alger, and Clay Butler are misguided in their attempts to, respectively, advertise and oppose meritocracy. There are fundamental weaknesses in both of the aforementioned arguments.
Contrary to what the book tries to establish, Ragged Dick is not an honest person. When he is a newspaper boy, he lies about Queen Victoria being assassinated to increase his sales (fraud). Later he scams a “pickpocket” which is, in itself, immoral and dishonest (two wrong do not make a right). This reduces Alger’s “hero” to just an ordinary person, and therefore contradicts the belief that there is a “genetic/natural” aspect to having “character” which is one of the bases of meritocracy .
On the other hand, Butler’s picture implies that no one can rise to any heights without, severely, abusing the people around them. This argument is indeed flawed. Throughout history there have been a great number of individuals, all around the world, who have risen from
Cited: Butler, Clay. BEHOLD... THE SELF MADE MAN. 1994. www.instituteforcommunitypeace.org, Washington DC. Web. 3 Mar 2013. .