Some collected references on the pitfalls of supposedly meritocratic societies or companies, both for the rich winners and the poor losers within the system.
If a society believes itself to be meritocratic, it will have less capacity for charity because the failures of the poor will be seen as deserved; there is less sense of noblesse oblige.
Due to elite overproduction (e.g. too many graduates into the professions) and extremely expensive education that is mostly provided to rich people, the rich winners of the meritocratic ladder now work intensely instead of being idle aristocrats; unclear whether they are actually fulfilled by this system either.
Example: the crazy level of competition in student sports like squash and lacrosse for US elite college admission.
Some historical thinkers emphasised that the world is not really meritocratic. The Stoics talked about the influence of Fortuna, goddess of luck, on life. Augustine said that all societies are unjust, so earthly success should be met with skepticism and failure with compassion.
The casual appearance of modern leaders (especially in technology) is hazardous because it is harder to realise that they are different from a common person (e.g. they may have a very different educational background) — in comparison to the flagrantly different aristocrats of the past, where a peasant would not even think to compare himself unfavourably, just a totally different category.
<aside> ⚙ Operationalise Avoid temptation to attribute all positive and negative outcomes to aspects you can control: cultivate an acknowledgement that luck is important. Think specifically about the ways luck might enter into work you are doing (e.g. personality of an assessor). Keep a physical totem (e.g. a statue of Fortuna) in a visible place as a reminder. Donate to charity. Be conscious of the meritocratic credentialling treadmill — is it actually fulfilling? Don't make decisions that just lead to more credentials / ladder advancement without a clear thesis on how those will lead to fulfilment.
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