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- Greg Malivuk
- http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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- Homework: find your book and bring it tomorrow
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- What is the “American Dream”?
- meritocracy = government by the most able or talented people
- (More generally: a system in which people are rewarded proportionately to their abilities.)
- Peter principle: “an employee is promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent”
- "In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties."
- - How could we prevent this from happening in a meritocratic hierarchy?
- talent management (especially for successors)
- (There’s also the option of not using a hierarchical structure in the first place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holacracy)
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- Watch the video and take notes:
- http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/1194840031120/defining-the-american-dream.html
- Information about the poll: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/us/08dreampoll.html
- https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/03/06/the_american_dream_not_dead_--_yet_139659.html - more recent poll
- “It was palpably available to people.”
- palpable = tangible or almost tangible
- The man in the video says you needed hard work “and a little bit of luck” to acheive the (financial version of the) American Dream.
- How much luck do you think is necessary in the US, compared to your country?
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- https://www.gapminder.org/tools/ - Current and historical data about many things in many countries.
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- BREAK
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- Can you buy happiness?
- Watch the TED talk on how to buy happiness.
- https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness
- Why do people give to charities?
- What is the purpose of government?
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- just-world fallacy = belief that the world is just and fair, and that therefore if good or bad things happen to you it’s because of good or bad things you’ve done
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- After seatbelts became required in all cars, the number of emergency-room visits for car accidents increased.
- Therefore, seatbelts caused injuries.
- - The real explanation is that many people who would have died without seatbelts were only injured with seatbelts. They’re going to the ER instead of to the morgue.
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- p. 344 - Vocabulary for homework:
- imprint - “This legacy left a deep imprint on American culture.”
- A lasting mark that is the result of something else. (“a lasting impression” is similar)
- untethered - “The American dream has become increasingly untethered from American reality.”
- A tether is a rope that connects two things. “untethered” is similar to “disconnected”
- delusion = a strong belief in something false or irrational
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- Homework: read “The Mobility Myth”
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