Jonah
Well-Known Member
I would refer to a true meritocracy as an ideal, but the notion of the US as a meritocracy is a myth. Is that what you meant?
Yes, that’s what I meant. It might be fine as an ideal but it’s not possible in practice. It suffers from what Marx liked to call an internal contradiction. In current discourse meritocracy is little more than a propaganda term used by and for the benefit of elites.
“The equality of opportunity that meritocracy promises will inevitably be overwhelmed by inequality of outcome. The people who do well from meritocracy will invest the proceeds from their success in working the system to make sure that they and their kids have the resources they need to continue to do well.”
https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2016/10/13/13259860/twilight-elites-trump-meritocracy