Eliane Glaser

The populist right have marshalled public anger against the real elites – corporate and financial power – and turned it onto those who represent us in Parliament, uphold our rights, treat us when we’re sick, and create and curate the best books, art and ideas. Culture and education have been made into symbolic arenas of ‘democratization’ while gross inequality remains intact.

Meanwhile, liberals have lost their nerve, accepting the anti-elitism slur at face value. But social privilege is not the same thing as excellence. For too long conservatives have had a monopoly on upholding standards of beauty and truth. But now that they’ve become ruthless modernisers, it’s time for progressives to take on that task. This book provides the ammunition for a timely rebuttal.

I do think she's right that the majority of academics, journos, and artists have terrible working conditions, and the right misrepresents Guardian columnists as falsely representative of these knowledge workers and effaces the real elites, the capitalist class. I also appreciate her defense of standards of value in aesthetics and her references to William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Mark Fisher, & al.

An interesting read.… (más)

I wanted to like this book a lot - it's 'my sort of book' ; a challenge to conventional wisdom,a spotlight on the spin that invidiously defines the modern world. But ultimately, it under-delivers. Neither "quite brilliant" (Dame Jenni Murray) nor "laid out with precision, grace and urgency" (Zoe Williams) - it's ironic that the dust jacket is an example of the very symptoms that Glaser critiques.

She themes each chapter (Politics, Social Mobility, Health, The Web, Media) and sets out to tell the 'truth' behind the ideology we're offered. Then fails to do so. What could have been a passionate call-to-arms is instead a sustained whinge about a lot of things she doesn't like, and a few things she does (but feels guilty about).

Glaser has obviously read widely around each of her themes and quotes readily. But her sources have thought and written more deeply , so you're better off reading the original material for a real workout.… (más)