Meritocracy cannot exist
- Publié le24 mars 2024
Meritocracy cannot exist (en)
Court article que j’avais fait pour un travail en anglais. Il y a sans doute quelques erreurs.
I see meritocracy as just about any other political system. As an aristocracy give power and strength (kratos) to the best (áristoi), a meritocracy give power in the hands of those who deserve it. Both systems seem pretty good and fair, and they would be if they really were applied. In a meritocracy, we don’t talk about the only political power, but in a more general way, all our situation (income, prestige…). Our society would be shaped by the idea of merit. The prime minister would be where he is by merit, as the baker and the homeless. This is a fatalist point of view but in theory it’s totally fair: you reap what you sow, so if you didn’t sow anything, you can’t expect to reap any fruit.
Unfortunately, a meritocratic system never existed. In fact, I think that it can’t be because of its own definition. A meritocracy is a meritocracy when we deserve our situation. The question shouldn’t be “are we in meritocracy?” but “how can we tell who deserve this and who don’t?”
The answer is obvious: we just must look at the merit of each person. Someone who works more in math would therefore deserve better grades than someone who works less. The link with work effort is tight.
However, for some people, this is not obvious at all.
Merit? What is merit?
To have the choice
I think that Micheal Young could agree with this position. Talking about the sociologist, Kwame Anthony Appiah, a professor of philosophy explains that « the authors of his fictional Chelsea Manifesto – which, in The Rise of the Meritocracy, is supposed to serve as the last sign of resistance to the new order – ask for a society that “both possessed and acted upon plural values”, including kindliness, courage and sensitivity, so all had a chance to “develop his own special capacities for leading a rich life.” [2]»
Maybe that’s the answer. Of course, we are all born unequal, but we can flourish in different ways. “A plausible answer is that living well means meeting the challenge set by three things: your capacities, the circumstances into which you were born, and the projects that you yourself decide are important”. We need to be able to decide what is important, and that is not the case.
Why is work valued?
What is valued is not a matter of chance. Work ethic did not emerge from the ground. What is valued is proper to a society. “If Einstein had been born a century earlier, he might have made no momentous contributions to his field; a Mozart who came of age in the early 20th century and trained on 12-tone rows might not have done so either. Neither might have made much use of their aptitudes had they grown up among the Amazonian Nukak”.
The meritocratic dogma is a creation of capitalism because it leads to believe that we all deserve our social position. Work is valued precisely because it benefits the richest who are therefore not bothered at the top of their ivory tower and accumulate more and more capital. What is strong in meritocratic ideology is that even the weakest, the poorest believe in it. It is quite striking to see these precarious workers who are happy in their work.
In his latest film which is called Perfect Days, Wim Wenders brilliantly shows us how a man can be happy even though he is at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Hirayama is a man in his sixties who spends his days cleaning public toilets in Tokyo. However, he is happier than many others who are richer. For Hirayama, the perfect life is not about making millions or having access to the latest technology, no. It consists of simple, routine days. All you need is a few cassettes and a good stack of second-hand books. Hirayama always smiles and knows how to appreciate the simple and beautiful things in life. He has fully understood how to give value to what he does, without worrying about the dominant value system. But can we all imitate this man and ignore the gaze of others?
[1] La Tribune. (2023, 11 mai). François Begaudeau, la méritocratie, un mythe ? Conférence à l’École des Ponts [Vidéo]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRsQk6_1oRo
[2] Appiah, K. A. (2023, 5 octobre). The myth of meritocracy : who really gets what they deserve ? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/19/the-myth-of-meritocracy-who-really-gets-what-they-deserve