No talent required in the new and lucrative era of the gentleman amateur
msn.comEditor's note: The opinions in this article are the author’s, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of MSN or Microsoft. The idea that people should succeed and fail on their merits at work is a fairly modern one.
Until around the end of the 19th century in Britain, it was entirely natural that the top end of all kinds of occupations – sports, the sciences, art, politics – should be filled not by the hardworking and talented but by wealthy hobbyists. “Gentlemen amateurs”, a phenomenon traceable to the 17th century, were the renaissance sorts both created and personified by Arthur Conan Doyle: those with the time to treat careers as interesting collectors’ items.
Crucially, they also had social pull. So where they dabbled, they dominated. Sometimes the dabbling led to spectacular breakthroughs: Charles Darwin is a famous example.
But gradually a consensus formed that a thick and stifling layer of privilege was holding back talent and getting in the way of progress.
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