Although the concept has existed for centuries, the term meritocracy was first coined in the 1950s. It was used by British politician and sociologist, Michael Young in his 1958 satirical essay,[3][15][16][17][18] The Rise of the Meritocracy, which pictured the United Kingdom under the rule of a government favouring intelligence and aptitude (merit) above all else, being the combination of the root of Latin origin merit (from mereō) and the Ancient Greek suffix -cracy (meaning power, rule).[19] In this book the term had distinctly negative connotations as Young questioned both the legitimacy of the selection process used to become a member of this elite and the outcomes of being ruled by such a narrowly defined group. The essay, written in the first-person by a fictional historical narrator in 2034, interweaves history from the politics of pre- and post-war Britain with those of fictional future events in the short (1960 onward) and long term (2020 onward).[20] The essay was based upon the tendency of the then-current governments, in their striving toward intelligence, to ignore shortcomings and upon the failure of education systems to utilize correctly the gifted and talented members within their societies.[21] Youngs fictional narrator explains that, on the one hand, the greatest contributor to society is not the stolid mass or majority, but the creative minority or members of the restless elite.[22] On the other hand, he claims that there are casualties of progress whose influence is underestimated and that, from such stolid adherence to natural science and intelligence, arises arrogance and complacency.[22] This problem is encapsulated in the phrase Every selection of one is a rejection of many.[22] It was also used by Hannah Arendt in her essay, Crisis in Education [23] which was written in 1958 and refers to the use of meritocracy in the English educational system.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 15:29:00 +0000
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