Monday, October 02, 2006
Monday
02.10.06Meritocracy works for, rather than against social inequality. This may be an uncomfortable truth to some, but a truth it remains. And on closer examination, it is not that difficult to realise why. In order for meritocracy to work, social stratification is essential - if the different amounts of effort, talent and intelligence did not result in rewards of different weightage, there would be no incentive to work harder, smarter, or even at all. What is disturbing is that often meritocracy, one of the defining pillars in today's societal structure, is one also one of the largest bars trapping the poor in their poverty prison, preventing all but a lucky few from moving out. That is to say that meritocracy not only works for social inequality but more importantly, social immobility. Social inequality, while perhaps not as optimistic as some ideallists qould prefer, is acceptable as the norm - social immobility is not.
The ideals meritocracy and social mobility are just that - ideals. Fine ideals that, unfortunately, are not always complementary. In order to them to be, there must be a level of social equity present. Equity refers to the fairness - the equality of opportunity in a society, opportunities being the factors that make it possible for one to achieve a certain level of well-being through the generation of a certain level of income. That is to say that in order for meritocracy to work for social mobility, it must be possible for all to have the same opportunities to pursue a life of their choosing, whether this means acquiring an education for a job, obtaining credit for a business, finding fulfilling work or participating in public discussion and debate. Otherwise, without the means to achieve the gold trophy at the top of the ladder of meritocracy, meritocracy merely functions to widen the income chasm, strapping the poor in the wheelchairs of the socially immobile.
Posted by nayrakroarual at 5:47 PM
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home