ABSTRACT
Piketty's insights about meritocracy should, along with education, be part of the new conversation people need about the future of the American Dream. Capitalism claims to underpin the American Dream, but its caste character subverts the mobility that it professes. Piketty argues that equal opportunity to higher education is critically important for mobility. But because educational costs are escalating rather than declining, lower and middle Americans may be more likely to get less rather than more education than their parents. Piketty suggests that unless university costs are drastically reduced, and other social or cultural forces develop that improve prospects of admission for lower-income students, it is hard to imagine the resurrection of the American Dream. Education is crucial in the mind of most Americans, because it is widely seen as the most important way that an individual can move up in America.
