The Unfulfillable Promise of Meritocracy: Three Lessons and Their Implications for Justice in Education

This paper draws on a literature in sociology, psychology and economics that has extensively documented the unfulfilled promise of meritocracy in education. I argue that the lesson learned from this literature is threefold: (1) educational institutions in practice significantly distort the ideal mer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social justice research Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 14 - 34
Main Author: Mijs, Jonathan J. B.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2016
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Anthropology
Aspiration
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Citizens
Discourse
Discourse analysis
Education
Education policy
Equal opportunities
Equality
Inequality
Justice
Literary criticism
Meritocracy
Personal failure
Personality and Social Psychology
Philosophy
Political Science
Psychology
Schools
Social justice
Social Policy
Social structure
Sociology
Special education
Winners
New York
United States > US
Educational institutions
Meritocracy
Social stratification
Educational policy
ISSN:0885-7466, 1573-6725
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper draws on a literature in sociology, psychology and economics that has extensively documented the unfulfilled promise of meritocracy in education. I argue that the lesson learned from this literature is threefold: (1) educational institutions in practice significantly distort the ideal meritocratic process; (2) opportunities for merit are themselves determined by non-meritocratic factors; (3) any definition of merit must favor some groups in society while putting others at a disadvantage. Taken together, these conclusions give reason to understand meritocracy not just as an unfulfilled promise, but as an unfulfillable promise. Having problematized meritocracy as an ideal worth striving for, I argue that the pervasiveness of meritocratic policies in education threatens to crowd out as principles of justice, need and equality. As such, it may pose a barrier rather than a route to equality of opportunity. Furthermore, meritocratic discourse legitimates societal inequalities as justly deserved such as when misfortune is understood as personal failure. The paper concludes by setting a research agenda that asks how citizens come to hold meritocratic beliefs; addresses the persistence of (unintended) meritocratic imperfections in schools; analyzes the construction of a legitimizing discourse in educational policy; and investigates how education selects and labels winners and losers.
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ISSN:0885-7466
1573-6725
DOI:10.1007/s11211-014-0228-0