Winners Take All

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An insider s groundbreaking investigation of how the global elite s efforts to change the world preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve.Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can except ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it We see how they rebrand themselves as saviors of the poor how they lavishly reward thought leaders who redefine change in winner friendly ways and how they constantly seek to do good, but never less harm We hear the limousine confessions of a celebrated foundation boss witness an American president hem and haw about his plutocratic benefactors and attend a cruise ship conference where entrepreneurs celebrate their own self interested magnanimity.Giridharadas asks hard questions Why, for example, should our gravest problems be solved by the unelected upper crust instead of the public institutions it erodes by lobbying and dodging taxes He also points toward an answer Rather than rely on scraps from the winners, we must take on the grueling democratic work of building robust, egalitarian institutions and truly changing the world A call to action for elites and everyday citizens alike. Read Winners Take All – kino-fada.fr This is another book recommended to me by Richard In many ways this is a similar and perhaps an even better book than Small Change Why business won t save the world by Michael Edwards Under my review of that book Jan Maat mentions Andrew Carnegie and he gets quite a run in this book, although, I wouldn t be able to say he comes out of that looking particularly good In fact, he is presented, as Jan Maat says, as the classic case of what philanthropis...This is an excellent book and a must read It s also totally readable and even quite funny at times And it s the kind of book that you keep bringing up in conversation and then trailing off and saying you just really have to read this book The oversimplified thesis is that you can t use the mas...Philanthropy exists mainly to enable the super rich and super powerful to defer any serious discussion of a serious reordering of power and wealth, argues Giridharadas Through a series of vignettes both of the super rich and super powerful themselves, who prove themselves unable to conceive that righting the world s wrongs might require that they cede some of the their privileges, and their servants in the philanthropic world, who realize queasily their own compromised position which Giridhara Philanthropy exists mainly to enable the super rich and super powerful to defer any serious discussion of a serious reordering of power and wealth, argues Giridharadas Through a series of vignettes both of the super rich and super powerful themselves, who prove themselves unable to conceive that righting the world s wrongs might require that they cede some of the their privileges, and their servants in the philanthr...As someone who has dithered on the edges of elites changing the world , much of this rings true and I believe and grapple with the tension between the sometimes necessary power influence fortune needed, as we strive for justice and equity An article that I always refer back to is Noam Chomsky s dissection of justice vs power That and thoughts about how social movements and protest no matter how ineffectual will always bepowerful levers to create systemic change than social enterpris As someone who has dithered on the edges of elites changing the world , much of this rings true and I believe and grapp...Winners Take All is an important and timely book Giridharadas examines the fundamental limitations and contradictions of those who work for social change from a position of wealth and prestige His central theme is the master s tools will never dismantle the master s house, that is, the solutions proffered by the global elite will never address the conditions that created the problems He explains how this mindset, which he dubs MarketWorld not only entrenches the status quo but also spur Winners Take All is an important and timely book Giridharadas examines the fundamental limitations and contradictions of those who work for social change from a position of wealth and prestige His central theme is the master s tools will never dismantle the master s house, that is, the solutions proffered by the global elite will never address the conditions that created the problems He explains how this mindset, which he dubs MarketWorld not only entrenches the status quo but also spurred the backlash that led to Brexit and the election of Trump.In a tonerueful than accusatory, Giridharadas examines the blinkered world view of the philanthropic elite who...Inspire the rich to dogood, but never, ever tell them to do less harm inspire them to give back, but never, ever tell them to take less inspire them to join the solution, but never, ever accuse them of being part of the problem I say, sometimes, How do those people sleep at night Now I know They do so much to help already, how can they possibly be asked to pay taxes, too.This is an important book and should be read by every citizen Then, each of those citizens should take seriousl Inspire the rich to dogood, but never, ever tell them to do less harm inspire them to give back, but never, ever tell them to take less inspire them to join the solution, but never, ever accuse them of being part of the problem I say, sometimes, How do those people sleep at night Now I know They do so much to help already, how can they possibly be asked to pay taxes, too.This is an important book and should be read by every citizen Then, each of those citizens should take seriously the resp...Winners Take All is the hardest book I have ever read Not because it was inaccessible or esoteric, but because it forced a long overdue look in the mirror Being in the tech industry I ve been swept up in thought leadership, heroic philanthropy, and the promise of innovation to impact lives at scale For a moment I was becomingconvinced that maybe the market place was in fact the best place to solve our social ills Maybe the right combination of philanthropies and technology could fix mo Winners Take All is the hardest book I have ever read Not because it was inaccessible or esoteric, but because it forced a long overdue look in the mirror Being in the tech industry I ve been swept up in thought leadership, heroic philanthropy, and the promise of innovation to impact lives at scale For a moment I was becomingconvinced that maybe the market place was in fact the best place to solve our social ills Maybe the right combination of philanthropies and technology could fix most of our biggest issues With each page, I slowl...I found this a very enjoying read that really helped me coalesce some recent thoughts I ve had recently on the subject I first heard about the book on the Ezra Klein podcast I would recommend listening to it as well to get Ezra s questions and decided it was worth a try It was.The basic focus of the book is that cultural elites are claiming to want to change the world, but really are treating the symptoms and not the root causes, which are often their own actions The author demonstrates thi I found this a very enjoying read that really helped me coalesce some recent thoughts I ve had recently on the subject I first heard about the book on the Ezra Klein podcast I would recommend listening to it as well to get Ezra s questions and decided it was worth a try It was.The basic focus of the book is that cultural elites are claiming to want to change the world, but really are treating the symptoms and not the root causes, which are often their own actions The author demonstrates this in several ways, including actions by the wealthy and corporations, tech companies acting as change agents, and politicians relying on private sector solutions.Despite my enjoyment of the book, I felt I had to knock it one star While the book offers several case studies involving acqu...A phenomenally thought provoking book examining the myths and fallacies of change and problem solving via market driven solutions advocated by global elites seeking win win solutions that fail to address the root causes...The Beatles carrying all the criticisms contained in this book She s so heavy Bill Gates contributing a quote for this book is one of the most ironic things.I wondered how a person so critical of the institutions was given access to the said institutions, and he revealed he himself was an insider and a benefiter of the system The book s central refrain How can you expect the people benefiting from the system to change the system These philanthropists billions come from wrecking governmen The Beatles carrying all the criticisms contained in this book She s so heavy Bill Gates contributing a quote for this book is one of the most ironic things.I wondered how a person so critical of the institutions was given access to the said institutions, and he revealed he himself was an insider and a benefiter of the system The book s central refrain How can you expect the people benefiting from the system to change the system These philanthropists billions come from wrecking government regulations and workers rights and they spend a few millions to ameliorate some of the pain their own policies inflicted in the first place This is the first time I m reading a book devoted to this topic and hence, I might have felt unusually impressed It takes a dump on TED talks, the concept of thought leaders, the influencers like Steven Pinker, the ...

Winners Take All
  • 24 November 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 304 pages
  • 0451493249
  • Anand Giridharadas
  • Winners Take All