7 ms·
Math is a field famously overrun with white men. Probably not the best comparison to make if you really want to talk about what a "meritocracy" should look like
by 21echoes 13y ago
Math is a field famously overrun with white men. Probably not the best comparison to make if you really want to talk about what a "meritocracy" should look like. Unless, of course, you think white men naturally have more merit than everyone else..
- newnewnew 13y agoI never thought I'd live to see Marxists attack Math with their class war nonsense, but there you go. Shameless.
- beat 13y agoSo anyone who questions merit vs privilege is "Marxist"? Maybe I'm just dumb, but I don't see any Marxism here.
- newnewnew 13y agoCultural Marxism substitutes white male oppressors for capitalist oppressors. The rest of the philosophy is strikingly similar.
- beat 13y ago"Cultural Marxism"? When did Marx talk about culture in that way? He spoke very directly of class and economics. What similarities are you perceiving here? Expectations of equal opportunity are far different from the inversion of political subjugation that Marx proposed. Honestly, I think you're just tossing the word "Marxist" in as a form of name-calling, with no viable connection to your point.
- yummyfajitas 13y agoDo you believe there are a large number of people in {white/asian men}^C who are good at math but unable to progress in the world of math?
- freefrancisco 13y agoSo just because white men predominate in a field that automatically makes the field less meritocratic? If you live in a society where white men have more access to the tools that will allow them to forge their merit, when those white males encounter a meritocracy they will naturally rise to the top. You can argue that the society where these men come from is not meritocratic, but you can not argue that the field they enter is not meritocratic just because they are over represented.
- newnewnew 13y agoNotice that if any other group is proportionately overrepresented in a population, it can still be "meritocratic". It is only if there are too many white men, and only white men, that a group can no longer be considered meritocratic. Meanwhile, people tend to forget that half of successful startup founders are immigrants, including large portions from China and India. Most tech companies I've seen are not very white. If Silicon Valley is a good old boys network, the good old boys have done a terrible job at exclusion.
- freefrancisco 13y agoAlso, apparently women from other countries didn't get the memo that the tech industry is sexist, and they come in droves to Silicon Valley to kick ass and chew bubble gum.
- wonderzombie 13y agoThe plural of anecdote is not data, let alone the singular.
- 21echoes 13y ago> Notice that if any other group is proportionately overrepresented in a population, it can still be "meritocratic". false. a meritocratic system will very closely match the demographics of the population at large, because no given demographic is inherently better at a given task[1]. > It is only if there are too many white men, and only white men, that a group can no longer be considered meritocratic. it's no coincidence that most un-meritocratic systems are overrun with white men-- white men are, historically, a priviledged group. so, of course, if a system values privilege over merit, one will see more white men. is that really that hard to understand? [1] there are, of course, some small differences in average ability among different populations, but in most every case this is not the overriding factor leading to population imbalances in a given field.