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About this quote

What does it mean?
Social hierarchies cannot be erased by law. Laws can only change who qualifies, not the existence of hierarchy itself.
In plain terms
Laws cannot remove elite groups, only change members.
What can you take from it?
Elites always exist under any system.

Where it applies

  • policy making
  • social reform
  • political science

Putting it to work

  • study structural roots
  • expect persistence

Questions to consider

  • Can inequality ever be fully removed?
  • Does changing laws change the system?

Another view

Meritocracy can reduce inequality even if it remains.

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