The article claims that the US is "near the bottom in terms of actual social mobility", but only supports this with some points about how social mobility in the US isn't that good.
The US is still one of the most meritocratic countries in the world.
The US is still one of the most meritocratic countries in the world.
They clearly reference several books by the people quoted in the article. I assume that their claims are quite thoroughly discussed within said books. You may not believe or agree with them, but it's not as though they are pulling them from nowhere, sort of like this:
>The US is still one of the most meritocratic countries in the world.
And you base this claim on...?
Data that supports their statements is easily found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/04/us/comparing-e...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to...
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/04/b1579981.html
> The US is still one of the most meritocratic countries in the world.
This is only a convincing argument against the notion that social mobility is low in the US if you already subscribe to meritocratic principles.
Looking at the US from the outside, it doesn't really seem that way any more. And I live in a country (UK) that is far worse.