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inclusion
The problem with meritocracy

Societies that value a certain kind of intelligence above all else sense of entitlement and self-worth. We
push out those with learning disabilities – and create problems can all probably name a few.
A slew of recent books have taken up a
for most other people. Simon Jarrett discusses why this is position against meritocracy – until
recently seen as an unarguably good way
of organising society – and made the
n the past, if you were born into towns) against the elite, intellectually point that many of Young’s predictions are
privilege, you lived your whole life in gifted class. The revolt is led by the coming true.
Iprivilege, no matter how bad or lazy a Popular Party. These include Michael Sandel’s The
person you might be. Young saw two problems in a society Tyranny of Merit and David Goodhart’s
If you were born poor, on the whole you ruled by the idea of merit, which means in Head Hand Heart, both published in 2020.
stayed poor, notwithstanding how bright effect that power resides with those
and hardworking you were. deemed most intelligent.
But now we live, we are often First, a society based on intellectual However seductively just and
reminded, in something called a merit alone simply creates a new, equally fair the idea of a meritocracy
meritocracy. This is a modern, democratic unjust class system to replace the old one,
society in which people can flourish which oppresses the uneducated or might seem, it has deep roots
on merit. “intellectually dull”, who become the in eugenicist thinking
Merit comprises a combination of lowest social class.
intelligence, talent and willingness to He referred to intellectually gifted
work hard. Those born into humble people as members of the “lucky sperm
circumstances can, on the strength of club”, no more entitled to automatic Sandel has argued that not only have
their merit, rise in society. privilege than the children of aristocrats. the already privileged been quick to learn
On the other side of the coin, an Second, the new meritocracy will how to play the system and entrench their
individual born into wealth and advantage contain within it the seeds of the old privilege, but also those who do not
can slide down the social scale if they lack system of privilege. succeed in life or feel that they have not
or fail to apply sufficient merit. Those from families that gained succeeded come to see themselves as
In the past, it was the accident of your privilege in the past will find ways of failures and, worse, personally responsible
birth rather than any talent or intelligence coming out on top in the new society. for failing.
you might have that mattered. In modern Think of wealthy parents who game the
societies, with universal education, equal system to get their children into top It’s your fault
opportunities and equal rights, no private schools, elite universities and If you are told by Barak Obama or Bill
entrenched privilege can stand in the way the professions. Clinton that you will get ahead if you are
of succeeding on merit. Indeed, Young foresaw the new system smart and work hard enough and you
Meritocracies have been praised by of merit would be worse than the old one then fall behind, what does that say
Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Theresa May, because those who succeeded in it about you?
Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama among through privilege would delude themselves Goodhart has argued that we attach
many others. that they had succeeded through merit, disproportionate importance to jobs
In 2016, May stated: “I want Britain to and would therefore have an overweening that require intellectual abilities (head),
be the world’s great meritocracy.” In the and look down on and disparage work
same year, Hilary Clinton said of American that involves manual labour (hand) or
society: “I want this to be a true caring skills (heart).
meritocracy. I’m tired of inequality. I want Both argue that all this has caused the
people to feel like they can get ahead if resentment among many working-class
they work for it.” people, who have been influential in the
So far, so great. Who wants to argue election of populist leaders such as
against the idea of a society in which Donald Trump in the US and the outcomes
merit wins through, rather than inherited of the Brexit referendum in the UK
wealth and privilege? followed by the 2019 election.
Brexitland, an analysis of voting
Satirical origin patterns in the 2016 referendum by
Yet what each of these leaders failed to political scientists Maria Sobolewska and
realise was that the word meritocracy was Robert Ford, revealed that the most Pete Souza/Official White House/Flickr; Wellcome Collection
invented for satirical reasons by British significant divide between Remain and
sociologist Michel Young in his 1958 book Leave voters was between graduates and
The Rise of the Meritocracy. those who had left school without going
The book imagined a Britain in 2034 on to higher education.
(then 76 years distant) where unrest is As Labour shadow minister Lisa Nandy
stirring among the uneducated classes Success “depends on effort and merit”, has commented, this led to the conclusion
(many of them in northern and Midlands according to Barack Obama by many of the well-educated people who

20 Vol 35 No 3 | Spring 2022 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk