Meritocracy

Many of us believe we live in a society where success is based on merit alone. Hard work and ambition are indeed key components to success, but there are many other factors that go into the meritocratic equation. Our societal structure gives advantages to some and suppresses others. Merit is very nuanced in our current society and within its institutions.

It is a very romantic idea to believe that everything anyone has ever received was earned. Achievement based solely upon determination and ability. It would make things very easy. There would be a fairness and order to the world that would make sense. Those that live in luxury deserve to do so and those that live in poverty and despair deserve their lot. This is actually the way many people understand merit in the United States.

There are many issues with this viewpoint. The overarching issue is that it simplifies the entire concept down to black and white. This is the narrative pushed by those that have achieved. It is good rationale for their actions, be they philanthropic or nefarious. It is also a narrative that is effective at keeping those that haven’t achieved accepting their role as subordinates or second-class citizens.

When the idea of meritocracy is seen as this rigid and absolute dichotomy it justifies the accumulation of obscene wealth. It also makes those living in poverty seem as though deficiencies in their abilities and character are the sole reasons for their failures.

This isn’t an attack on the wealthy. Nor am I advocating for laziness. A lot of people work really hard. A lot of very wealthy people worked very hard for their wealth, and a lot of poor and middle-class people work very hard every day to just meet the basic needs of their families.

This is a deeper evaluation into all the gray area that gets ignored by our simplest notions of meritocracy. Those that can look at the impoverished population of our country and say ‘they deserve it’ or ‘they just didn’t work hard enough’ are simplifying merit. Those that put the grand winners of capitalism in an ivory tower under the assumption that all their wealth was earned are also simplifying merit.

If you are born into even a moderate level of familial wealth in America then you are already on a different track than most Americans. A person that wins the birth lottery will have better access to education, health services, and opportunity than a child born at the opposite end of the spectrum.

A child born into wealth will likely grow-up in a safe and healthy space with plenty of nutritious food. They will likely be in a good school district or attend a private school – both being staffed with well-paid and engaging educators. They will have doors open to them based upon their name that others will only dream of.

Children born into poverty are more likely to live in unsafe spaces. They learn uncertainty at an early age. Being consistently unsure of whether your basic needs will be met as a child can lead to long-term issues such a depression and PTSD. They will likely attend a school district with significantly less resources. That means fewer teachers, larger class sizes, and less overall engagement.

Children of poverty just don’t have the same access to the opportunity that their wealth peers do. They are at a greater risk of developing life-long mental and physical ailments. And all this is before any of these kids, be they born into wealth or poverty, have a chance to make a single decision for themselves.

Truth is that some people are born into a support system that nurtures and fosters them at every turn, and some people won’t ever know a moment of stability and security.

Indeed there will always be exceptions to the rule. There are people born in poverty that go on to do great things and achieve success. And there are people born into wealth that become criminals. For the most part, those that are born into extreme wealth retain their wealth and those that are born into extreme poverty are another spoke on the wheel of generational addiction, abuse, violence, and despair.

We have a tendency to amplify the success stories of those that crawl out of poverty to find success. These are heartwarming stories, but also provide the false narrative of, ‘if they can do it, then why can’t everyone’. This only serves to reinforce the idea that merit is easy and a person’s success or failure is solely a result of their character. Ignoring the fact that character is developed through experience.

A person’s ability to work, or work hard, isn’t what I’m arguing. A hard-working person should reap the benefits of their work. My argument is that we aren’t all starting from the same plain of opportunity. Yet we seem to judge a person’s successes or failures as if we all had the same starting position.

I am also not advocating for an equality of outcomes. One could say I’m advocating for a more equitable plain of opportunity, but I’m not even really doing that here. What I am trying to do is show that this idea of merit in America is flawed. Our belief in a system of meritocracy isn’t as cut and dry as we’ve been led to believe.

I’m not sure how we provide that more equitable base. I assume it is through re-imagining and re-organizing systems such as education and criminal justice. That is only a start and even that would require a paradigm shift from most of the population.

The point of this piece is simply to try to highlight the nuance of the American concept of merit. It is to show some of the ways the narrative of merit has been used to normalize injustice. We are all born into a life-situation and set of circumstances that we did not choose. My hope is that we can shift to a more empathetic and realistic perspective on merit.

I appreciate your attention and hope you found some value in this.
Thanks for reading.