I would say that it is a facet of meritocracy. After all, status alone doesn't necessarily represent the reward one might expect for one's achievements. For ce

I would say that it is a facet of meritocracy. After all, status alone doesn't necessarily represent the reward one might expect for one's achievements. For certain people, class, or remuneration probably matters much less than recognition, for example. If said recognition goes to whomever shouts the loudest or makes sure to 'appear' best (even though anyone with expert knowledge would immediately know this person isn't the best), then you are no longer living in a meritocracy. I should note that I find the whole idea of a meritocracy rather flawed, as it would somehow require to perfectly equate all of your actions, every single day, in every walk of life with some kind of reward or easy-to-query metric. That's just not feasible. And even if it was, who would want another type of China-style sesame credit on steroids?