The Crisis of the Meritocracy

Britain's Transition to Mass Education since the Second World War

Peter Mandler

Provides an authoritative account of transformations in post-war British education
Gives a view of how education makes an impact on the whole of the British population
Includes insights from sociology and economics about the causes and effects of educational change
Challenges standard understandings of 'meritocracy'

The Crisis of the Meritocracy

Britain's Transition to Mass Education since the Second World War

Peter Mandler

Description

Before the Second World War, only about 20% of the population went to secondary school and barely 2% to university; today everyone goes to secondary school and half of all young people go to university. How did we get here from there?

The Crisis of the Meritocracy answers this question not by looking to politicians and educational reforms, but to the revolution in attitudes and expectations amongst the post-war British public - the rights guaranteed by the welfare state, the hope of a better life for one's children, widespread upward mobility from manual to non-manual occupations, confidence in the importance of education in a 'learning society' and a 'knowledge economy'.

As a result of these transformations, 'meritocracy' - the idea that a few should be selected to succeed - has been challenged by democracy and its wider understandings of equal opportunity across the life course. At a time when doubts have arisen about whether we need so many students, and amidst calls for a return to grammar-school selection at 11, the tension between meritocracy and democracy remains vital to understanding why our grandparents, our parents, ourselves and our children have sought and got more and more education - and to what end.

The Crisis of the Meritocracy

Britain's Transition to Mass Education since the Second World War

Peter Mandler

List of Abbreviations
1:Meritocracy vs. Democracy
2:Before the Butler Act
3:The Crisis of the Meritocracy
4:The Transition to Comprehensive Education
5:The Robbins Principle
6:Where Have All the Students Gone?
7:The Transition to Mass Education
8:The Swing Away from Science
9:Effectively Maintained Inequality
Epilogue: More and More Education
Appendix
Acknowledgements
Bibliography

The Crisis of the Meritocracy

Britain's Transition to Mass Education since the Second World War

Peter Mandler

Author Information

Peter Mandler, Professor of Modern Cultural History and Bailey Lecturer in History, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge

Peter Mandler is an historian of modern Britain who teaches at Cambridge University; his books cover a range of social, cultural, political, and intellectual history subjects relating to Britain since the 18th century and also to the history of the social sciences in the wider Anglophone world. Between 2012 and 2016 he was President of the Royal Historical Society and from 2020 he serves as President of the Historical Association. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was born and raised in the USA but has spent most of his adult life in the UK; he is married to Ruth Ehrlich, a professional violinist, and has two grown-up children, who are also sadly split between the US and the UK.

The Crisis of the Meritocracy

Britain's Transition to Mass Education since the Second World War

Peter Mandler

Reviews and Awards

"David Willetts welcomes a bold account of how the battle between democracy and meritocracy has transformed higher education in the UK" - David Willetts, Times Higher

"What gives Mandler's account its power and originality is its refreshingly non-technocratic stress not only on broad social and cultural forces at work... a crisply written, tightly argued and hugely informative Olympian survey in which an incisive but humane historian, who over the years has written about a wide range of subjects, brings all his talents to bear." - David Kynaston, Times Literary Supplement

"Truly impressive..tour de force of revisionist insight slaying assumptions and myths of both the political left and right by keeping its focus fixed on the wishes and actions of young people and their parents Mandlers significant, original, and thought-provoking findings will help us think more clearly about education today, not only in Britain, but also in the United States and elsewhere." - Marginalia/LA Review of Books

"This book is...like a well-prepared restaurant meal with each tasty ingredient carefully balanced by the others...In many respects, this is the book we have been waiting for and we should read Mandlers conclusions not as some dusty historical reflections but as a lesson on the stresses and strains that we are likely to face on the hopefully continuing but not inevitable journey of educational progress. We could not have a better guide." - Nick Hillman, Higher Education Policy Institution

"This is a fascinating book... It is unusually wide in its scope, impressive in its scholarship and covers a lot of detail chronicling the expansion of more and more education over the last 75 years. It is highly recommended." - Education Journal

"In this brilliant book, Mandler recasts the history of democracy in post-war Britain by placing the social and cultural forces that drove the relentless expansion of mass education centre-stage. It is a refreshingly original tour de force that will challenge many preconceptions." - Jon Lawrence, author of Me, Me, Me? The Search for Community in Post-war England

"Fascinating and convincing: contemporary history at its best. Mandler's account of the 'race between education and democracy' shows how modern British education is the product of broad social change rather than political fights and ideology. This makes it hugely relevant to anyone interested in policy. With luck, it may even improve our policymaking." - Alison Wolf, author of Does Education Matter? Myths About Education and Economic Growth