Interesting reading

Believing in "meritocracy" makes you act like a dick

Boing Boing

The term "meritocracy" was popularized in the UK sociologist Michael Young's 1958 novel, "The Rise of the Meritocracy," in which aristocrats insist that they are the natural rulers of their society based on "objective" measures of worth ("merit" + "aristocracy" = "meritocracy") that are obviously tilted to favor them, a fact that they are conveniently blind to.

But satire has a way of being overtaken by doctrine, and today, a majority of Americans believe that they live in a meritocracy where the market elevates the worthy to positions of wealth and privilege (and power!) despite widespread evidence that the rich cheat. Even as inequality has worsened, the 9.9% have only become more convinced that merit is the factor that determines success, freaking out when you point out the role that luck paid in their elevation, and despite the extensive literature showing that meritocracies become oligarchies in short order.

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https://boingboing.net/2019/03/18/poes-law-for-oligarchs.html