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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
They do boil over the fact that one person born in The U.S. to a wealthy family is much more “lucky” than someone born in another country to a poor family.

In some ways, a person born in The U.S. to a poor family is much more “lucky” than someone born in another country to a wealthy family.

Our poor people have more "stuff" and more living space than the middle class of Europe (on average and in general.) Yet the elites in our country train our poor to believe they're victims.

And they are, to a degree -- victims of the very elites who oppress them by pretending to care for them.

81 posted on 06/01/2021 10:12:43 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: Rurudyne

Gratitude itself increases generosity — and opens the space to receive more.


82 posted on 06/01/2021 10:13:59 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: gspurlock
Rejection of meritocracy is demonstrable racism. If meritocracy = white supremacism, the person who thinks that thinks that whites have the greatest merit.

Post of the day!

83 posted on 06/01/2021 10:24:51 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: shooter223

Heinlein nails it.


84 posted on 06/01/2021 10:26:37 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: ProgressingAmerica

85 posted on 06/01/2021 10:29:06 AM PDT by Hildy (In an unforgiving world, only the shameless survive.)
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To: redgolum

The first generation accumulates.
The second generation consolidates.
The third generation dissipates.


86 posted on 06/01/2021 10:29:42 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: ProgressingAmerica

The assumption is that it is one or the other, luck or merit.

Wrong.

Usually it takes a bit of both.


87 posted on 06/01/2021 10:39:49 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Reily

PARC XEROX didn’t understand the value of the GUI. They wrote it off as a novelty.


88 posted on 06/01/2021 11:15:57 AM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Golly, Wow, white people are just so darn lucky snot fair to the rest.
Princeton should lower their tuition too, to make it fair for all.
In fact they should not charge anything because, in actuality they’re not worth anything.


89 posted on 06/01/2021 11:21:09 AM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our only true hope. )
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To: reg45

Yes that was what I was later told !


90 posted on 06/01/2021 11:21:27 AM PDT by Reily
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To: aquila48

China has a history of rewarding merit that goes back thousands of years.


91 posted on 06/01/2021 11:22:49 AM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Lies

All lies


92 posted on 06/01/2021 4:38:18 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Red Badger
" Okay, the next time a Princeton prof need brain surgery, they can get the last in the class to do it, it’s all the same right?............... "

Indeed, and midgets should be able to play in the NBA. No, meritocracy is not perfect since there are different levels of grace (DNA, environment, accidents, etc.) that factor in, but it is the best system considering the alternatives - and the author offers none that I saw, but liberals want to be the one;s who determine who gets what), esp. when it is understood that those who were given more grace should voluntarily help those who try but are truly disadvantaged.

93 posted on 06/01/2021 5:53:01 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save + be baptized + follow Him!)
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To: Starboard

Here’s another old saying...

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. :-)


94 posted on 06/01/2021 5:59:50 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9)
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To: Repealthe17thAmendment

Best concept so far. (Force them to live up to their own standards.)


95 posted on 06/01/2021 6:17:06 PM PDT by Silentgypsy (In my defense, I was left unsupervised.)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

This one is another “classic” out of Princeton in the last few days... what a disaster —

— you’d have thought that Woodrow Wilson was the worst it’d ever have come up with, but no, here we go from Princeton that the “Classics” exclude Latin and Greek and now that talent is racist.

What a sweet pudding is that little orange and black tiger.


96 posted on 06/01/2021 8:05:29 PM PDT by nicollo (I said no!)
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To: TBP

Thanks!


97 posted on 06/01/2021 9:36:00 PM PDT by gspurlock (http://www.backyardfence.wordpress.com)
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To: devere

It won’t. We’re already in free fall.


98 posted on 06/01/2021 9:38:41 PM PDT by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: Silentgypsy
Force them to live up to their own standards.

One of Alinsky's rules.

99 posted on 06/01/2021 10:10:03 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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