meritocracy
the american dream
Meritocracy is a system in which one’s advancement is consistent with one’s individual achievements, asserting that those who excel in their particular field of expertise are rewarded. This idea is often reinforced by the narrative of the ‘American Dream’, which relies on the assumption that everyone has the freedom to attain material wealth and social mobility. However, just like all beliefs, which, by definition, rely on acceptance without substance, meritocracy rests on the idea that society offers those opportunities to everyone, but it is up to the individual whether or not they choose take advantage of them.
In truth, those born into privileged positions of wealth enjoy significant advantages over those who are less well off, or those born into poverty. Wealth is the key to unlocking the conventional notion of success – becoming rich – because it brings with it education, experience, security, leverage, and support, which together create those opportunities. To obscure the inherent unfairness of this system, the American Dream is often reduced to the simplistic formula ‘hard work = success.’ This is no different from the saying, ‘idle hands do the devil’s work’ implying that hard work, in this case, guarantees ‘heavenly’ rewards in return.
Both phrases are manipulative, designed to justify the excessive workload many endure, who earn just enough to afford to go work. This ‘poverty trap’ is a well-established feature of civilised society, perpetuating social divisions and inequity by design. To debunk the myth of meritocracy, which claims ‘all people are born equal’* we must recognise how far that ideal is from reality.
It is not only social disadvantages that limits our potential for success; we are also constrained by our genetic makeup and the cultural influences we are subjected to from birth. These evosocionetics – the sum of the forces responsible for shaping who we each become – are inescapable, and we simply do not have the free-will to override them and decide our own destiny. Therefore, rewarding an individual for their success, ignores the multitude of factors that contributed to it, because that success was only possible because of everything else, but them.
Over the past fifty years, books on ‘how to succeed‘ and ‘how to get rich‘ have sold hundreds of millions of copies, turning the genre into a billion-dollar industry. Yet, if these books truly delivered on their promises, their readers would all be wealthy. Just because a book outlines a strategy for success doesn’t mean it can fundamentally change a person’s character or ability to achieve that outcome.
The real issue is that the writers of these books invariably overlook the vast diversity and varying limitations of their audience. They assume that because they succeeded by using their method, anyone can, which fails to acknowledge how their unique given personality, life experiences, and other advantages, unavoidably played a significant role in their own success.
So beyond the public boasting of perceived success by having their name on the front of a book, these ‘authors’ are also peddling a destructive and unsustainable aspiration – such is the vulnerability and danger of an immature ego.
It is never the fault of an individual if they fail, as it is never the fault of those who succeed, it is merely the situation that they’ve been dealt that dictates their future. If we want a better outcome we need to create a better environment. Blaming failure and rewarding success make no sense if we understand how our evosocionetics determine who we each become, and what we subsequently can or cannot achieve.
April 2024
* See the article on equality to fully understand the nightmare that the ‘American Dream” actually is.