At 03:36 PM 07/05/01 +0100, Keith Hudson wrote:
>In using "meritocracy" in its wider meaning (not the meaning that Michael
>Young says the system imposes), then we really do need more meritocracy not
>less.
Meritocracy is such a perfect word for satire precisely because it can seem
to mean both one thing and its opposite(s). The narrow definition would be
Young's equation of IQ + effort = merit. The "wider meaning" could be the
Chelsea Manifesto's inclusion of qualities other than intelligence and
education -- "their kindliness and their courage, their imagination and
sensitivity, their sympathy and generosity . . ."
Or it could signify the next step after the initial, *inevitable*,
blasphemous commutation of the formula. First intelligence and effort
themselves become retroactively defined by "meret" (a much needed word I
have backformed from meretricious). Eventually other qualities can be
explicitly recognized and valued as part of the definition -- flexibility,
cheerfulness, eagerness, ruthlessness, unquestioning conformity, cynicism,
even unadulterated lust and greed. Isn't that the implication of "go for it"
-- the smug notion that the single-minded pursuit of personal gain is itself
a virtue? And why stop there when "literally getting away with murder" can
also be meretocratically redeemed by remuneration (perhaps in stock options)?
Although one could historically identify impulses in its direction, there
has never been and never will be a meritocracy in the narrow sense of the
equation. Like chastity, meritocracy is most genuine when it is discreet.
Too much talk about meritocracy takes us into the bordello advertising its
virgins.
On the other hand, pursuing the wider meaning as laid out in the Chelsea
Manifesto cuts through to the superfluity of evaluating and rewarding people
on whatever supposed merit. Will we administer kindliness and sensitivity
tests in school? To ask the question is to uncover its absurdity.
Saying we need more meritocracy is, in effect, like saying we need more
hypocrisy. We have enough of that already, thank you. What we need is not
more meritocracy but more democracy and more equality.
Tom Walker
Bowen Island, BC
604 947 2213
