Iconoclast: In Defense of Mr. and Ms.

“Professional titles confer too much undeserved authority in an increasingly egalitarian world,” argues Bloomberg Opinion’s Tyler Cowen. “Why, for instance, should I be called ‘Professor Cowen,’ but few people would address the person fixing their toilet as ‘Plumber Jones’?” We’re “giving some professionals too much status automatically,” while “relegating” others “to lower-status jobs.” Doctors are “de facto titled nobility in America,” and giving them “this unique authority status” makes “it easier for them to oversell us medical care.” Military titles, though, are “fine and indeed necessary. The whole point of a chain of command is to establish authority relationships, but that practical reality should give us pause about the use of professional titles elsewhere.”