A speech given in May 2009 to the fourth annual conference of the Property and Freedom Society at the Hotel Karia Princess in Bodrum, Turkey.
Video shot and edited by Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance.
© 2009, The Speaker, The Property and Freedom Society
http://www.propertyandfreedom.org/
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Related posts:
Stanislav Andreski’s Social Sciences as Sorcery: Enduring Errors and Academic Corruption – Thorsten Polleit, PFS Bodrum 2025
Saifedean Ammous on Property Rights and the Palestinian–Israeli Conflict – PFS Bodrum 2025
“Roman Slavery: Horror and Paradox – Sean Gabb in Bodrum”
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The link to the actual video doesn’t appear to be in the posting? Is it this one?
http://www
I watched it and enjoyed it, but (in my browser at least) the sound rather annoyingly cuts off near the end when your are discussing supermarkets (just when you’re saying how good and cheap their food is).
It’s a good talk though a little disconcerting due to the frequent announcements that you’re not quite sure of what you’re talking about, which is very honest but not so persuasive 🙂 One thing I thought was that where you’re discussing how to define the Ruling Class, you mention their shared education, but I don’t think this quite gets to the nitty gritty of it. I think we need to see the modern education system- particularly “tertiary” education- as a system similar to the Prussian schooling system, which selects and trains people for particular roles and classes in society- which degree, at which university, kind of thing.
So if one looks at politicians of the modern type, we notice a disproportionate number of PPE degrees- a degree which was openly created to replace the old equally intellectually useless Classics, as a degree whose sole purpose is to provide a pretence of education when one goes to the right university to meet the right people to become a member of the inner ruling class.
As such, the social system is somewhat meritocratic, in that anyone from any background really can join it, just so long as the education system identifies, selects, and promotes them as the “right kind of person”. They will then go into various junior positions in a ruling class “middle circle” e.g. as political researchers, thinktankers, and so on, on their way to the centre. (Using this terminology, we might add an “outer circle” of lower bureaucrats and functionaries with lesser qualifications from lesser places, who will not rise to high office).
Just my tuppence ha’penny in the old money.
Interesting thought.
However, I never saw Classics, as it was studied at our place, as anything other than what it appeared to be: that is to say, the actual study of Latin and Greek literature, ancient history and philosophy, and so on.
It’s true that the chaps who did it seemed to go on into positions in the “Civil Service”, strangely and mainly in Whitehall, or become barristers. Very few of those became merchant bankers or traders of any kind.
The PPE wallahs we dubbed mercilessly “harries”. A “harry” was any sort of politically-motivated geek who joined one of the University’s political party organisations, mainly on the left. OUCA people were not precisely “harries”, in the true sense (certainly not the women) as they were there for the sex. So i guess it was understood that PPE was a preparation for a life in politics.
Dave:
Modern Greats (as Balliol describes PPE) consist of Politics, Philosophy and Economics. What else do we-all discuss hereabouts on LA Blog??
Tony
And it’s worth mentioning, that my close friend and Co-Director Roger was told at his Interview that if all he wanted from Balliol was the degree, he should forget about going there. He reckoned that he could have got the degree with nine months of study….
Tony
PS: He built up his own million-pound business, BTW
Quoting from wikipedia-
“PPE was established in Oxford in 1920 as a modern alternative to Classics (known as Greats) because it was thought that a course in Philosophy and Ancient History was no longer relevant for those entering the civil service. It was thus initially known as Modern Greats.”
Does anyone really believe that any significant, that is degree-level, understanding of a remit as broad as politics, philosophy and economics can be attained in a single degree course? Ed Balls has a degree in PPE. Does he give the impression of comprehending any of these fields, let alone all of them?
It’s not a degree for aspiring philosophers or economists. It’s a degree for aspiring politicians and apparatchiks. It’s not the only one of course- the higher education system is awash in degrees fitting their students for placement in the apparat- political science, wimmins studies, media studies, etc, etc. They aren’t intended to educate in the sense of increasing knowledge. They’re a “prussianist” selective filter.