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A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

law.yale.edu

41–50 of 87 posts

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their cohort effectively sets the vision for American legislation and justice. You may not be interested in them, but they're interested in you.

Setting the vision for American legislation and so-called "justice" is hardly something to be envious of, or to be proud of if you know anything about legislation or the "justice" system.

I'm sure this harsh burn has them all reeling. I'd imagine they are quitting their jobs as I speak.

Get off your high horse.

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#42
This was a really inspiring speech. The entire speech is very valuable to read, but to give a TLDR: the new aristocracy is defined as the elite that gains their wealth through their labour rather than their assets. It's new because 50 years ago, the elite was more based on capital than their own work. It points out that you can exploit your capital without damage to yourself, but you can't exploit your own capacity to work as then you use yourself up, but that's precisely the trend as work amount expectations for elite lawyers have doubled in recent decades. The consequence of this situation is pointed out this way:

> To live in this way is, quite literally, to use oneself up. Such a life proceeds under a pervasive shadow: at its worst, it squanders the capacity to set and pursue authentically embraced, intrinsically valued, goals; even at its best, this life invites deep alienation.

With alienation they probably mean something like not seeing your parents, friends, family, etc for years. The proposed solution to this dilemma is then presented in the key paragraph:

> The new aristocracy promotes human flourishing for no one: certainly not for the excluded rest; nor even for the ensnared rich. We are trained to think of economic inequality as presenting a zero sum game: to suppose that redistribution to benefit the bottom must burden the top. But this is not such a case: reforms that democratize training and talent would benefit everybody. Such democratic reforms would restore the bulk of Americans to full participation in an economic and social order from which they have been, for several decades now, increasingly excluded. And democratic reforms invite the elite—you all—to accept an almost costless diminution in wealth and status in exchange for a massive, precious increase in leisure and liberty, a reclaiming of your authentic selves.

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#43
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In France there might be another dominant selection process other than cost (e.g. attending the 'right' schools, which again might be a matter of what connections you've had, or if you can afford to live in the catchment area). For example, I've known people who have been hired at very prestigious law firms, and told outright that they were pleased to see they attended a "very good" (i.e. elite) high school. Meanwhil…

Attending the "right" school is a huge factor here in the UK - at least in some areas (law and politics being the most obvious examples).

Its the same in France - though those that go to ENA are an order of magnitude more competent than some one who does a PPE at Oxbridge.

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#46
post #25
post #6

My school and work experience span working class coal power plant techs (a friend used to climb through exhaust channels) to Ivy League educated lawyers and founders. Most people’s career trajectory will be set by the time they are in high school, so the importance of secondary school education and resources of your parents is paramount. Also, wealth from family of origin allows risk taking, funding for law or medica…

I agree but I am not convinced wealth plays a big role. In France, higher education is pretty much free, and you see probably an even larger lack of social diversity than the US in the most ellitist programs (medecine, engineering, business). In the US there are always ways to finance education if you are a good student. I think family culture, peer pressure and the school pushing you to go the hard path is by far th…

France, as far as I know, has a two-tier university system. They have regular schools that are non-selective and then they have the grandes écoles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandes_%C3%A9coles). It's these that train the elite and ensure social stratification.

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attending the "right" school is a huge factor here in the UK - at least in some areas (law and politics being the most obvious examples).

Its the same in France - though those that go to ENA are an order of magnitude more competent than some one who does a PPE at Oxbridge.

I suspect the attitude in the relevant areas of the UK to your comment would be to be dreadfully amused at the idea that "competence" was a relevant factor ;-)

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#48

FWIW, the issue with life experience anecdotes is that they don't control for genetic confounding. Most rich kids have both the environment their parent created for them, as well as the genes their parents gave them. So it's impossible to tell which is more important in determining the life outcomes we see. There is a whole discipline called behavioral genetics that uses twin and adoption studies and, increasingly, g…

I think this line of thinking can take you dangerously close to the realm of eugenics and social darwinism. I recommend Taleb's take on IQ as some food for thought: https://medium.com/incerto/iq-is-largely-a-pseudoscientific-...

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#49
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree but I am not convinced wealth plays a big role. In France, higher education is pretty much free, and you see probably an even larger lack of social diversity than the US in the most ellitist programs (medecine, engineering, business). In the US there are always ways to finance education if you are a good student. I think family culture, peer pressure and the school pushing you to go the hard path is by far th…

As a European from a poor-ish lower middle class background, I can tell you that even free university doesn't cut it economically. The thing is, every year you stay at school is a year that you're a financial drain to your family and a year that you're not being an active money earner. For many, it's simply not affordable to be in their formative years until they are 22 (likely even longer if studies take more than 4…

Whoa, you don't need to drain your parents for 100% of the costs when on university. I was never very good student because it took me long time to memorize things compared to most peers, but even lame partying me was able to get a part time side job, was able to go to work&travel programme to US during long summer break etc.

It might be hard to finance all your university expenses by yourself, but you can definitely cover a lot without any real impact on your studies. Just be more effective with your free time, which is an invaluable lesson for rest of the life on its own.

Re: A New Aristocracy: Yale Law School Commencement Address (2015) [pdf]

#50

Graduating from Yale Law sounds like it's for suckers. Let the elites have their crazy working hours and stressful hoop jumping--I'm not envious.

In the age of big data, the gig economy, and oligrachs dominating the US economy and political sphere--you're next. You should read The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovits: https://www.themeritocracytrap.com/ The author is actually a Yale Law Professor, and the book came out about a month ago.

The author delivered this speech!
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