"Meritocracy" always works backwards in practice - the "crats" are anointed as being the ones with "merit". Credentialism is just the most obvious expression of

"Meritocracy" always works backwards in practice - the "crats" are anointed as being the ones with "merit". Credentialism is just the most obvious expression of this - e.g., you get a Harvard degree mostly by being in the social class that goes to Harvard - but it happens at every level in every way, and nearly everything which purports to assess merit in fact launders social class. This hits me, personally, hard, because my tribe is the thoughtful, the curious, the problem-solvers, &c., and so many such people take the stated aims of the prestige launderers at face value, only to be disappointed when being smart and dedicated means nothing in reality. To plagiarize a bit, I see the best minds of my generation destroyed by what amounts to a lack of class consciousness combined with the unforgivable sin of hoping that something in the world is fair.