Meritocracy is rule by those chosen on the principle of merit. The principle of merit in meritocracy is consistent with liberal theory and assumes equality of opportunity and occupational advancement based on achievement rather than ascription. In meritocracy, people will be rewarded on the basis of talent or merit and that the more talented and thus meritorious will come to occupy the more important positions in society. Emile Durkheim's notion of the ‘spontaneous division of labour’ and the argument of Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore on the function of social inequality both depend on the belief that in a liberal society meritocracy will prevail. There is some research which indirectly suggests that believing that meritocracy exists may increase wellbeing, and group consciousness theories suggest that disbelieving that meritocracy exists will enhance psychological adjustment to gender discrimination.
New racism, meritocracy
and individualism: constraining affirmative action in education
Martha Augoustinos,
University of Adelaide, Keith Tuffin, Massey University, Danielle Every,
University of Adelaide, Discourse & Society.
This article presents a discursive analysis of student talk on disadvantage and
affirmative action from two focus group discussions on ‘race’ relations in
Australia. This argument was also associated with a closely related one that
‘everyone should be treated equally or the same’, regardless of social
background. Although our analysis emphasizes the deployment of discursive resources that
function primarily to uphold the ideals of meritocracy, individualism and equality,
participants did produce talk that on occasion challenged the ideology of individual
achievement and acknowledged the existence of Aboriginal disadvantage.
Putting Meritocracy in its Place: The Logic of Performance in the United States, Brazil and Japan - Livia Martins Pinheiro Neves, Universidad Federal Fluminense, Brazil. The aim of this article is to explore two of the basic attributes of modernity, equality and meritocracy, in a cross-cultural perspective. Based on empirical research in the USA, Brazil and Japan this article explores the cultural content of those categories and their links with the different ways these societies build their notion of the individual - as proposed by Dumont (1992).
Post-industrial Solidarity
or Meritocracy?
John Andersen, Department of Social Sciences, Roskilde
University, Denmark.
The article deals with present forms of social and system integration and discusses what
institutional reforms and new formations of actors and coalitions could counteract social
exclusion in a way that takes post-industrial conditions into account. The term 'social
exclusion' is primarily used in the European discourse, while the concept of an
'underclass' is normally used in the Anglo-Saxon discourse. These two discourses take very
different approaches to what can be seen as the forces undermining societal harmony and
social coherence.
The Effects of Meritocracy
Beliefs on Women's Well-Being After First-Time Gender Discrimination -
Mindi D. Foster, E. Micha Tsarfati, Wilfrid Laurier University - Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin.
This study examined how meritocracy beliefs may buffer women from the negative
psychological effects of an acute situation of gender discrimination. Women who reported little
past experience with discrimination, and either believed or disbelieved that meritocracy
exists, were exposed to either a laboratory situation of discrimination or a
nondiscrimination failure (control) condition. Consistent with group consciousness
theories, women experiencing discrimination reported greater well-being if they
disbelieved that meritocracy exists than if they were believers. In contrast, women in the
control condition reported greater wellbeing if they believed that meritocracy exists than
if they were disbelievers.
Is Northern Ireland an Educational Meritocracy?
Richard Breen, Nuffield College, Sociology, Vol. 37, No.4. 2003 BSA Publications
Ltd.
In all developed societies the class position that individuals come to occupy
depends,inter alia, on their class origins, gender and ethnic group membership. It might
be argued that these inequalities had ‘meritocratic legitimation’ if it
transpired that they were largely the result of the differential distribution of merit
across sexes, classes or ethnic groups. In this paper I address the question of how far
Northern Ireland can be considered to be an educational meritocracy. In seeking to explain
the results of the analyses I draw on recent work that discusses and illustrates some of
the difficulties with the concept of ‘merit’ and with the attempt to equate
meritocracy with a diminishing role for ascription.
Responding to Discrimination as a Function of Meritocracy Beliefs and Personal
Experiences: Testing the Model of Shattered Assumptions - Mindi D. Foster,
Wilfrid Laurier University. Lisa Sloto, Richard Ruby, West Chester
University.
Disadvantaged group (both gender and ethnicity) members' responses to discrimination
(self-esteem, collective action, intergroup anxiety) were predicted from their meritocracy
beliefs and personal experiences of discrimination. Regression analyses showed a
significant interaction between meritocracy beliefs and personal discrimination such that
among those who reported personal discrimination, stronger beliefs that the meritocracy
exists predicted decreased self-esteem and collective action as well as increased
intergroup anxiety. Among those who reported little personal discrimination, stronger
beliefs that the meritocracy exists predicted increased self-esteem.