This suggests that if we got rid of this rhetoric something else would take its place as it fills a kind of market niche. There's a limited amount of space in e

This suggests that if we got rid of this rhetoric something else would take its place as it fills a kind of market niche. There's a limited amount of space in elite institutions and thus fierce competition over the right to obtain these degrees, which have become (in some circles) the modern equivalent of writs of noble title. This creates demand for mechanisms that can be used to signal and play status games. Also suggests why it shows up in high-status highly paid jobs like engineering, finance, executive suites, law, etc. What was it a few generations ago? Patriotism? Being the correct race or religion instead of posturing about diversity?