When Michael Young, a British sociologist, coined the term meritocracy in 1958, it was in a dystopian satire. At the time, the world he imagined, in which intelligence fully determined who thrived and who languished, was understood to be predatory, pathological, far-fetched.
Today, however, we’ve almost finished installing such a system, and we have embraced the idea of a meritocracy with few reservations, even treating it as virtuous. That can’t be right. Smart people should feel entitled to make the most of their gift. But they should not reshape society so as to instate giftedness as a universal yardstick of human worth.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 18 2016, @06:36AM
Today we have affirmative action, employment equity, preferential procurement, no-child-left behind, H1B, etc.
Merit hardly factors. That's not sustainable.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 18 2016, @06:53AM
For the past 15 years it's been Preferential Treatment for Black Lesbian Veterans of Bushbama's Wars. Are you White or Male or Straight or Civilian? No Job for you! Not. Ever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 18 2016, @01:08PM
Don't forget, if you're over 26, you can't even get drafted...