In his 2022 essay "Elite Anxiety," Ross Douthat examines the intense insecurity of America’s upper-middle class, driven by the erosion of meritocratic promises and a loss of cultural authority [1]. The analysis argues that the elite’s reliance on credentialism and ideological conformity, amid institutional decline, has created a high-stakes, anxious status quo [1]. You can read the original article at The New York Times.