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A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you
Princeton University ^ | June 22, 2020 | Clifton Mark

Posted on 06/01/2021 7:40:37 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica

Meritocracy has become a leading social ideal. Politicians across the ideological spectrum continually return to the theme that the rewards of life—money, power, jobs, university admission—should be distributed according to skill and effort. The most common metaphor is the ‘even playing field’ upon which players can rise to the position that fits their merit. Conceptually and morally, meritocracy is presented as the opposite of systems such as hereditary aristocracy, in which one’s social position is determined by the lottery of birth. Under meritocracy, wealth and advantage are merit’s rightful compensation, not the fortuitous windfall of external events.

Most people don’t just think the world should be run meritocratically, they think it is meritocratic. In the UK, 84 per cent of respondents to the 2009 British Social Attitudes survey stated that hard work is either ‘essential’ or ‘very important’ when it comes to getting ahead, and in 2016 the Brookings Institute found that 69 per cent of Americans believe that people are rewarded for intelligence and skill. Respondents in both countries believe that external factors, such as luck and coming from a wealthy family, are much less important. While these ideas are most pronounced in these two countries, they are popular across the globe.

Although widely held, the belief that merit rather than luck determines success or failure in the world is demonstrably false. This is not least because merit itself is, in large part, the result of luck. Talent and the capacity for determined effort, sometimes called ‘grit’, depend a great deal on one’s genetic endowments and upbringing.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: blackkk; luck; lucky; merit; meritocracy; redistribution; reparations; whitesupremacy
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Luck as a thing is nonsense, it is defined as a low probability outcome...if you do not prepare and develop the skills, success (however you define it) it unlikely.

There are clear undertones of supremacy and elitism...heredity determines your potential? So if you are from a family without success you should not expect to gain any yourself because we all know poor people have bad genes??? It is so confusing to know when its ok to be woke.

So utterly stupid and obnoxious.


61 posted on 06/01/2021 8:47:05 AM PDT by GordieDD
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To: PapaBear3625

“At the heart of their argument, is the admission that there are genetic differences between individuals, in the qualities which contribute towards success.

And they hate that.”

They are still fighting the Bell Curve after all these years.


62 posted on 06/01/2021 8:48:14 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Bttt


63 posted on 06/01/2021 8:48:56 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there..)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

― Robert Heinlein


64 posted on 06/01/2021 8:53:35 AM PDT by shooter223 (the government should fear the citizens......not the other way around)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Although widely held, the belief that merit rather than luck determines success or failure in the world is demonstrably false. This is not least because merit itself is, in large part, the result of luck. Talent and the capacity for determined effort, sometimes called ‘grit’, depend a great deal on one’s genetic endowments and upbringing.


The author disproves merit, by defining it away.


65 posted on 06/01/2021 9:00:07 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: coloradan

I usually take advice with some level of salt anyway. I would not say all billionaires that potentially would or could include Trump. Most might be more accurate but I’d be more comfortable with “a significant number” of them. Since you’re now pointing me into the position of having to saying something positive about Gates & Jobs. Gates did pay $50K (or so I thought I read!) for the DOS precursor. Looks predatory in hindsight, but at the time was probably a good business risk and it paid off. Gates was a genius at marketing. His real strength. Programming genius, not so much! Jobs another genius marketer. SPARC XEROX apparently showed him the window technology with no NDA & not even a verbal agreement not to copy. (Note I could be wrong about that but that’s what I heard from SPARC employees. I used to have to go there a lot early in my career.) And the rest is history !

Note Edison’s business ethics don’t bear up well under examination .


66 posted on 06/01/2021 9:05:18 AM PDT by Reily
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To: GordieDD
Luck as a thing is nonsense, it is defined as a low probability outcome...if you do not prepare and develop the skills, success (however you define it) it unlikely.

I've heard "luck" defined as what happens when the prepared see an opportunity.

In my younger days I saw several opportunities slip by because I was an unprepared fool.

67 posted on 06/01/2021 9:06:32 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." -- Voltaire)
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To: PapaBear3625

You mean risk.

I have a lower risk tolerance than some. So my highs are not as high but my lows are no where NEAR the lows.

I also work.

“Luck” in this case means being born so rich you never have to work.

A lot of second generation rich that I know feel so guilty about it, they try to tear themselves and everyone else down.


68 posted on 06/01/2021 9:12:14 AM PDT by redgolum (If this is civilization, I will be the barbarian. )
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Article is a good example of Critical Theory. Here’s how it works. The author cites studies showing other factors (such as luck) can influence success in certain events. He then extrapolates because every success isn’t necessarily 100% purely by merit, the entire system (of merit) is therefore false and by extension results in inequity which needs to be equalized (by outcome). Like every critical theorist, he offers the criticism, but no solution to his perceived problem. But his solution (eliminating merit) can only be achieved by force - picking and choosing who “deserves” something which inevitably results in gross discrimination (based on race, gender, etc).


69 posted on 06/01/2021 9:21:17 AM PDT by Truthhunter1
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To: Openurmind

Yes, I have the coworker problem, too. They don’t complain at all about what I say or question—just that I do. What I say is rational and pertinent and the recordings of the meetings show the presenter said my questions were “very good” and that my comments were correct. It’s not the presenters having a problem with me, it’s people who don’t have a clue and want to go back to sleeping remotely from the office.


70 posted on 06/01/2021 9:22:41 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: redgolum

My company also has white men at the top, almost exclusively. It seems their approach is to litter the ranks below them with all the PC people proving the company has a “rich diversity.”

The trouble is that is accomplished on the backs of no PC people doing the work, reporting to the incompetents.


71 posted on 06/01/2021 9:25:23 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: ConservativeMind

That is a feature, not a bug.


72 posted on 06/01/2021 9:31:10 AM PDT by redgolum (If this is civilization, I will be the barbarian. )
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To: ProgressingAmerica

I’m amazed they teach against meritocracy, yet they won’t let go of evolution, which is nothing more than biological meritocracy.


73 posted on 06/01/2021 9:32:29 AM PDT by aimhigh (THIS is His commandment . . . . 1 John 3:23)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Not this “S” again...


74 posted on 06/01/2021 9:40:51 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Folks, if you haven't yet, please start an automatic monthly for Jim and his crew.)
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To: Mariner

won’t.

Anacyclosis ALWAYS wins. ..........

Very interesting. And scary.


75 posted on 06/01/2021 9:52:41 AM PDT by Freee-dame
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To: ConservativeMind

Smart, creative and energetic people make their lethargic, hyper cautious and lethargic bosses look bad. Promoting them puts these bright workers one step closer to being their bosses boss. The concept of merit gets a lot of lip service but as you point out, there are reasons why talent and effort are not properly rewarded.

And then of course there is the problem of discrimination against motivated whites who have the drive to advance but are not allowed to because of wokeness.


76 posted on 06/01/2021 9:52:54 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: Pining_4_TX

The idea of luck is a bludgeon the left uses to guilt people out of their money.

*************

There’s an old saying: “The harder I work the luckier I get.”


77 posted on 06/01/2021 9:54:35 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: ProgressingAmerica

This is from the Marxist university that spawned and venerated Woodrow Wilson, the racist progressive hero who is probably the worst person ever to occupy the White House.


78 posted on 06/01/2021 10:07:05 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: ProgressingAmerica

I don’t know who originated the saying that “luck is where preparation meets opportunity,” but there is a lot of truth to it. There is also a lot of truth to Branch Rickey’s oft-quoted statement that “luck is the residue of design.”


79 posted on 06/01/2021 10:08:57 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: TBP

Current dewmocrats are certainly giving Wilson a run for that title !


80 posted on 06/01/2021 10:12:18 AM PDT by Reily
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