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People are doing what feels good and what makes them look good. Social incentives have been highly politicized, so in many environments the sort of behavior you
by jrs95 9y ago
People are doing what feels good and what makes them look good. Social incentives have been highly politicized, so in many environments the sort of behavior you're talking about is seen as the highest virtue. Meritocracy or traditional liberal values are no longer the priority.
- spamizbad 9y agoWas meritocracy ever the priority? To my knowledge, at least the idyllic way this site sees it, meritocracy has never been in practice. It's merely been an ideal "strived" for, the same way a Christian may strive to live free of sin. What likely happened: We came the realization that what we consider "merit" is highly subjective and may not even correlate with better outcomes. Once that sank in, all bets were off.
- jrs95 9y agoIt was definitely never achieved, but at least people gave a shit about it. Thats no longer the case, and it's not in the mainstream monoculture that people seem to be convinced is somehow anti-establishment.
- fromthesky 9y agoThe principle of meritocracy is not an ethical program to reward the most meritorious (and hence deserving) people. The 17th-century liberal conception of meritocracy is to assign the most capable people to positions where they can have the most effect - as opposed to the ancien regime system where administrative duties were allocated on a hereditary basis. So I don't think "merit" in this sense is totally subjective - it's just a representation of our best estimate of who can do the best job in any given function.