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The chap who came up with the term "meritocracy" actually did it in a dystopian novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_of_the_Meritocracy https://en.wik

The chap who came up with the term "meritocracy" actually did it in a dystopian novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_of_the_Meritocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_of_the_Meritocracy A recent comment by the author, Michael Dunlop Young: "It is good sense to appoint individual people to jobs on their merit. It is the opposite when those who are judged to have merit of a particular kind harden into a new social class without room in it for others."

sonnyblarney 8y ago
This is a very thoughtful comment and I don't think it should be downvoted. I particularly appreciate last quote it's utterly relevant in the Valley.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- arethuza 8y ago
  I can't comment on the Valley, not having spent a huge amount of time there, but here in the UK I tend to find that anyone using the term "meritocracy" seriously tends to use it in a rather self justifying way "we are a meritocracy, I have been successful, therefore I have merit therefore I deserve all the rewards I can get". However, I do welcome the type of meritocracy where people like Aneurin Bevan can go on to influence our lives in such a positive way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan [He started work down a mine at 13 and went on to found the NHS]. Also, on the military side it used to be possible for someone to rise from private soldier to Chief of the Imperial General Staff - something, even with a far smaller military, would be impossible today - a point made by the military historian Richard Holmes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Baronet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Bar...
  - sonnyblarney 8y ago
    Most corporate systems are highly meritocratic, and high school dropouts who have no skills or ability are not rising to the top. The military is a completely alternative universe, and by the way many commissioned soldiers do make the jump to the officer class.
repolfx 8y ago
What does the last sentence mean, exactly? The word meritocracy doesn't refer to an actual formalised class system, anywhere or in any time in history. This appears to a flawed attempt to seem balanced - meritocracy is good when it means appointing people based on merit (which is what it always means) and bad when it means this thing that doesn't actually exist. Trying to ban the word meritocracy like they did at GitHub is just the result of certain sorts of people (who loudly claim to be totally not racist or sexist at all) secretly believing that formalised hiring and promotion processes, which is what they usually mean by the word meritocracy, will exclude their chosen favourite minorities.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  The commenter points out that the cynicism towards the term 'meritocracy' is actually a part of the very birth of the term into the English language, which is a very good point. 'Meritocracy' possibly creates another class based system, just defined in the terms of whoever is responsible for defining what 'merit' is. I believe that in general 'meritocracy' is a good thing, I don't think we should be fundamentally cynical about it ... but the OP's comment is definitely relevant.
  - arethuza 8y ago
    Note that I'm not cynical about the concept of meritocracy - just how the term is used.

sonnyblarney 8y ago

This is a very thoughtful comment and I don't think it should be downvoted. I particularly appreciate last quote it's utterly relevant in the Valley.

deleted 8y ago
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arethuza 8y ago
I can't comment on the Valley, not having spent a huge amount of time there, but here in the UK I tend to find that anyone using the term "meritocracy" seriously tends to use it in a rather self justifying way "we are a meritocracy, I have been successful, therefore I have merit therefore I deserve all the rewards I can get". However, I do welcome the type of meritocracy where people like Aneurin Bevan can go on to influence our lives in such a positive way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan [He started work down a mine at 13 and went on to found the NHS]. Also, on the military side it used to be possible for someone to rise from private soldier to Chief of the Imperial General Staff - something, even with a far smaller military, would be impossible today - a point made by the military historian Richard Holmes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Baronet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Robertson,_1st_Bar...
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  Most corporate systems are highly meritocratic, and high school dropouts who have no skills or ability are not rising to the top. The military is a completely alternative universe, and by the way many commissioned soldiers do make the jump to the officer class.

repolfx 8y ago

What does the last sentence mean, exactly? The word meritocracy doesn't refer to an actual formalised class system, anywhere or in any time in history. This appears to a flawed attempt to seem balanced - meritocracy is good when it means appointing people based on merit (which is what it always means) and bad when it means this thing that doesn't actually exist. Trying to ban the word meritocracy like they did at GitHub is just the result of certain sorts of people (who loudly claim to be totally not racist or sexist at all) secretly believing that formalised hiring and promotion processes, which is what they usually mean by the word meritocracy, will exclude their chosen favourite minorities.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
The commenter points out that the cynicism towards the term 'meritocracy' is actually a part of the very birth of the term into the English language, which is a very good point. 'Meritocracy' possibly creates another class based system, just defined in the terms of whoever is responsible for defining what 'merit' is. I believe that in general 'meritocracy' is a good thing, I don't think we should be fundamentally cynical about it ... but the OP's comment is definitely relevant.
- arethuza 8y ago
  Note that I'm not cynical about the concept of meritocracy - just how the term is used.