The biggest problem is the false belief that success is based on merit. This leads to classism. Classism is just as bad as a caste system, but the meritocracy myth makes it harder to take down.
The problem with "meritocracy" culture is that it often values only 1 form of meritocracy and that is direct, technical, individual contributions.
IE, it values the brilliant asshole.
Sure, the brilliant asshole is very smart, and makes good individual contributions. But thats not really what matters.
What matters is the TOTAL contributions of the entire team. And the brilliant asshole, often brings a lot of INDIRECT negative value to that entire team, as he creates a toxic culture that negatively impacts the other people that he is supposed to be working with.
Whether or not a "meritocracy" is good or not depends entirely upon the definition of meritocracy that you are using.
The problem is meritocracy can be gamed to be unfair by selling the perception of improved performance.
Giving off a perception of peak performance is trivial for those that know how to shmooze, get that title bump.
We see it all the time with celebrities getting their kids into nicer schools, dads who own construction companies donating to unis, etc. the list of stereotypes is endless.
Biological reality does not really care much for our emotional constructs, as others will always come along with their own.
It was fact that pagan gods controlled reality until it wasn’t. At least those ideologies were backed by fun imagery. Meritocracy is also nonsense, but easier to see as it doesn’t distract by flooding the imagination.
But it would be a great idea if it were real. The problem isn't in the theoretical idea of a meritocracy. It's that the real world isn't nearly as meritocratic as assumed and a lot of people in high places got there by connections, being from wealthy families, and so on and not due to their own merits.
Meritocracy isn’t a thing. The person who coined it was rightfully mocking society. The recent 2019 Meritocracy Trap book goes further into this.
Your explanation is not “meritocratic”. The wealthy and powerful largely stay on top with the nuance you provided. The popular have more popular. are able to make what they link to more powerful and thus more popular. There is no meritocracy there.
Real meritocracy is a market economy (barring corruption).
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