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Meritocracy is in Trouble
Do we have anything to replace it with?
In 1958, a British sociologist named Michael Young wrote a satirical novel popularizing a concept that was so new, it didn’t have a widely accepted name yet. Young wanted to reflect on the changing criteria for social status in Britain — it seemed that people would no longer occupy the highest perches of society because of the accident of their birth; instead, they’d earn positions of influence with hard work and innate ability. Young called his book The Rise of the Meritocracy, using a term that had been coined a couple of years earlier by another sociologist, Alan Fox.
Meritocracy sounded great on paper. The smartest and most industrious among us should get the biggest rewards from society. These people had earned their high salaries and positions of influence by being smarter and more able than the rest of humanity!
But Young knew that meritocracy might not work out as intended. Written as a report from the year 2034, his book, The Rise of the Meritocracy, tells a speculative history. It starts optimistically, as British society finally breaks free of the tyranny of inherited privilege. The educational system identifies the finest students and funnels them into elite schools — where the best minds will get the best training. Because these people have demonstrated their worth to society through the application of intelligence and effort, they become the new ruling class of Britain.
So far, so good. But things quickly go sideways. The schools’ focus on teaching less-intelligent students humility and pushing them toward sports turns a few of them into star athletes but leaves most of them frustrated. Meanwhile, the upper class moves to cement its children’s position at the top of the social hierarchy. The meritocrats tend have more high-IQ children than the lower classes, but they also work to rig the game in their favor. They make sure their kids get the best tutoring so that they perform well in school; when they can’t bear smart children, they adopt promising youngsters.
As the story continues, inequality grows. The people at the top of society aren’t troubled by it — after all, they’ve earned their privilege. In the end, the lower classes, having been shut out of opportunity for decades and tired of being…
