The 2020 Worldviews Lecture will be postponed in compliance with recent public health guidelines about gatherings in response to COVID–19.
We will announce a future date for the event in the coming weeks.
We wish you all good health during these challenging times.
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations and the Centre for the Study of Canadian International Higher Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto will be hosting the sixth annual Worldviews Lecture on Media and Higher Education.
The Myth of Meritocracy:
From satire to social inequality
Speaker: Professor Jo Littler
Date and time: Postponed
Location: YWCA Toronto, 87 Elm Street, Toronto
Registration: This is a free public event but advance registration is required.
The concept of meritocracy suggests that anyone can ascend the social and economic ladder if they work hard enough, regardless of their social position. This rather ambitious claim originated as a satirical take on social mobility in the 1950’s.
And yet meritocracy is now embedded at the heart of our economic, social, cultural, and academic institutions in a way that obscures the role meritocracy plays in social exclusion.
This year’s Worldviews lecture will attempt to make meritocracy satire again.
The evening will open with a talk by Professor Jo Littler of City, University of London and author of Against Meritocracy: Culture, Power and Myths of Mobility. Her talk will be followed by a conversation with a dynamic panel of experts and academics, featuring Rupa Banerjee, Carl James, and Wayne Lewchuk.
The discussion, moderated by Trish Hennessy, will explore the ways merit creates social and economic barriers and address its intersections with class, race, gender, and immigration status.
The event is free and open to the public but registration is required. We hope you will join us for what promises to be an engaging conversation, and will continue the discussion afterwards at a special reception courtesy of Goldblatt Partners.
For more information and to register, please visit: https://worldviewsconference.com