meritocracy
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English
Etymology
From merit + -o- + -cracy, coined by British sociologist Alan Fox in 1956 in an article in Socialist Commentary from May 1956, used as a derisive term,[1] and popularized by British sociologist Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington in his 1958 book The Rise of the Meritocracy.[2]
Pronunciation
Noun
meritocracy (countable and uncountable, plural meritocracies)
- Rule by merit and talent.
- 2019 September 5, Sarah Leonard, “The Fall of the Meritocracy”, in The New Republic:
- In Markovits’s telling, the rise of the meritocracy is a story of unintended consequences.
- 2019 September 9, Jennifer Schuessler, “The Meritocrat Who Wants to Unwind the Meritocracy”, in The New York Times:
- Its faculty has also been a factory of books taking differing positions on the merits and demerits of meritocracy and elite education.
- A type of society where wealth, income, and social status are assigned through competition.
Usage notes
Though widely used as a term of praise,[3] the term was originally coined as a satire, and a critique of awarding educational achievement.[2]
Derived terms
Translations
rule by merit
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References
- ^ “meritocracy”, in Word Origins, 2019 April 30, retrieved 2022-07-24
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Down with meritocracy, by Michael Young, in The Guardian, June 29, 2001.
- ^ Meritocracy's Lab Rat, by Timothy Noah