David Brooks on how the elite broke America

Dialogues with Richard Reeves

Who broke America? Quite likely, you did. David Brooks, my guest today, describes how the new elite, the "bobos" as he once labelled them (bourgeois bohemians) have created a hereditary meritocracy, failed the leadership test, condescended to the less successful, and actively contributed to inequality and segregation. We talk about what class means today, why David now thinks economics is more important than he did, his advice for both the Democrats and the Republicans, the culture wars, and much more. We end with a discussion of his work on a new book on the importance of social recognition, of being seen.

David Brooks

David Brooks is a prominent social and cultural commentator writing regularly for the New York Times and the Atlantic, and previously for the Wall Street Journal. He also appears on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press” to discuss politics and culture. Brooks teaches at Yale University and belongs to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

More Brooks

• Read his Atlantic piece, How the Bobos Broke America, building off his 2001 book, Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
• His previous books include The Social Animal, The Road to Character, and The Second Mountain.
• For more, check out his column at the New York Times and his column at the Atlantic
• You can follow more of his work on twitter: @nytdavidbrooks

Also Mentioned

• We chatted about my book, Dream Hoarders.
• We mentioned several scholars who work on social and/or economic inequality, including:
  • Robert Putnam, specifically referring to his work on extracurricular activities.
  • Raj Chetty and how geography plays a role in mobility.
  • Sean Reardon, specifically his point that racial diversity is more common than class diversity.
  • Richard Fording and his work on occupational segregation.
• We also mentioned Jonathan Rauch and his work on the cognitive regime - which you can learn more about in this episode of my podcast.
• Brooks mentioned the book “Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School” written by Shamus Rahman Khan.
• We discussed Brooks’ infamous deli meat anecdote in his 2017 piece “How We Are Ruining America”
• Brooks referred to the work of Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist who studied power dynamics and the importance of cultural capital, linguistic capital, symbolic capital, and more.
• I mentioned Michelle Margolis’ research on religion and politics, which you can learn more about in her book “From Politics to the Pews.”
• I also referred to the book “The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class”, written by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett.
• Brooks mentioned Ibram Kendi.
• Brooks referred to this scene in Good Will Hunting (specifically starting at minute 3:06)
• I mentioned Michael Young’s pivotal book “The Rise of the Meritocracy,” which I’ve spoken about previously here.
• My previous work on respect, including this Brookings essay, has focused heavily on the importance of eye contact as an assertion of civic and moral equality.
• I cited Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence, in which he wrote “we hold these truths to be sacred.”

The Dialogues Team

Creator: Richard Reeves

Research: Ashleigh Maciolek

Artwork: George Vaughan Thomas

Tech Support: Cameron Hauver-Reeves

Music: "Remember" by Bencoolen (thanks for the permission, guys!)