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Meritocracy

Brouwer,Huub
Abstract
A meritocracy is a society in which positions of advantage and power are distributed based on people’s merit. Although the word ‘meritocracy’ was only coined during the 1950s by Michael Dunlop Young, merit as a principle for organizing society is much older. The relationship between merit, equality of opportunity, and desert is explored. Several recent critiques of meritocracy are discussed, including that meritocratic thinking is responsible for the rise of populism around the globe.
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Date
2025
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Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishers
Collections
Tilburg University Research Output Collection
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Meritocracy_for_International_Encyclopedia_of_Ethics_submitted_version.pdf
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Keywords
affirmative action, Arendt, Hannah, Aristotle, desert, discrimination, merit, meritocracy, equality of opportunity, glass ceiling, Rawls, John, justice, Mill, John Stuart, Mozi, Plato, racism, SDG 4 - Quality Education, SDG 5 - Gender Equality, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities, SDG 1 - No Poverty
Citation
Brouwer, H 2025, Meritocracy. in T Metz (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Wiley-Blackwell Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee987
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/26087
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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