Comments on ‘How Not to Be a Hypocrite’

Abstract

This article examines the arguments and underlying assumptions of Adam Swift’s book on How Not to Be a Hypocrite. It argues that, although there is much that is commendable and fascinating in the book, it might have benefited from a more sociological approach to the middle class. While the book is designed to capture and argue with the anxieties of middle class parents, it really only addresses the concerns of one fraction – specificallythe ‘new middle class’. It also under-emphasizes the nature and force of parents’ anxieties, which are often less to do with pushing their children to higher plains and rather more to do with fear of social descent. In addition, the book underplays the pervasiveness of social class on lifestyle and modes of reasoning. School choice is not just one area of decisionmaking that can be separated from other life choices. It is a shame that this lack of a sociological grounding of class differences diminishes the force of what is an otherwise powerful book and an admirable attempt to celebrate academic thinking and to believe that people other than academics can benefit from serious consideration of difficult issues.