The new female ascendency

‘‘NO GROUP IS MORE DANGEROUS,” growled Theodore Dalrymple in 2014, “than the disgruntled literate.” Two years later, in Ages of Discord, the political scientist Peter Turchin made the same point, stating famously that “one of the most reliable predictors of state collapse and high political instability is elite overproduction”. The problem, as Dalrymple and Turchin both see it, is that the sharp-elbowed bourgeoisie makes often considerable sacrifices to obtain an education, with the aim of then securing employment that affords status and compensation commensurate with that sacrifice. And when there are more sharp-elbowed strivers than juicy jobs, the also-rans become restive. Turchin argues that this is the predicament in which America finds itself at present: with an excess of would-be middle-class courtiers, managers and nobles and too few desirable positions for them…