I have argued before that the core of our current national discontent is the growing inequality in the nation, and that things like the election of Donald Trump and the rise of armed militias are not the cause but instead the symptoms of this discontent. David Goodhart’s 2020 book Head, Hand and Heart: Why Intelligence is Over-rewarded, Manual Workers Matter, and Caregivers Deserve More Respect deals with this argument in more detail.
From the flyleaf of the book:
“…David Goodhart divides society into people who work with their Heads (cognitive work), with their Hands (manual work), and with their Hearts (caring work), and considers each group’s changing status and influence. Today the “brightest and best” trump the “decent and hardworking” Qualities like character, compassion, craft, and physical labor command far less respect. This imbalance has led to the disaffection and alienation of millions of people.
Much has been said about the causes of discontent in today’s Western societies – wealth inequality, disconnected political elites, educational divides. Burt there is an explanation hiding in plain sight. One form of human aptitude – cognitive ability – has become the gold standard of human esteem. Cognitive elites now shape society, largely in their own interests. To put it bluntly, smart people have become too powerful.”
It seems to me nothing exemplifies this attitude more than the current push by liberal political elites to forgive college loans, certainly an appealing idea if one is among the 30% of the population that goes to college. But the other 70% of the population might well ask why there is no similar move to relieve them of the loans they have taken out for tools, trucks, and vocational training or certification for non-academic fields.
I highly recommend this book.
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