Success, with Jo Littler

Abstract

If you're talented and work hard, success (whatever that is) will be yours!" -So says the powerful system and ideology known as "meritocracy". But if only it were so simple! Jo Littler joins Uncommon Sense to reflect on where this idea came from, how it became mainstream, and how it gets used by elites to convince us we live in a system that is open and fair when the reality is anything but that.But Jo also shows things are changing. Since the crash of 2008 it's been clear we're living and working on a far from "level" playing field. Jo describes the recent embrace of non-work and the rise of assertive "left feminisms" as a sign of hope that the tide may be turning against meritocracy and shallow ideas of success, and discusses the work of people leading the way. Plus: we reflect on the trope of escape. Why is it so often that to "succeed" in life, one must leave the place that they're from and embrace the risky and new? And what's up with the cliche of the "ladder" as a visual image for success? Jo reflects with reference to everyone from Ayn Rand to Raymond Williams. Also: we consider the 1990s rise of the "Mumpreneur" and the more recent phenomenon of the "Cleanfluencer".