Meritocracy

A few days ago I was inspired by a quite decent lecture by Alain de Botton on atheism. Due to exams, however, I have not been home a lot and so the past two days I skipped my routine with writing at least a small piece every day.

The lecture I am refering to is the following one.



He does put out some interesting ideas. It is nothing new to be inspired by perspectives that will not be adopted by oneself. It is quite intelligent in fact, to enable further understanding of a subject, which in this case is life and thereby quite substantial, by a way of discovering the insights others might have had on the subject.

The point that struck me the most in this lecture is definitely the one about infantilisation. The idea that many religious texts refer to humans as children of God (or whatever other concept they believe in) is quite profound if you only look at postmodernism. Because we spend just about all our lives trying not to be children. Even when we are. It is simply not a part of life that has any value, since this hyper-individualism we have entered into has taken over.

Everyone has to assume responsibility for their own lives and this is where I will begin talking about the meritocracy. Unlike a democracy a meritocracy is defined as a society where actions speak the loudest. You gain merit for your output and this in turn gives you the ability to choose where you want to be. This means that there are no social boundaries installed at all, and as such any one can achieve anything. 

To the postmodern person this should sound like the apex of democracy. The peak of the mountain. Where we want to be. It is everything we strive for and everything we hope for, because it is just and righteous for everyone to have equal opportunity. By the sweat of our brow and so on.

However, this is where we should allow ourselves some inspiration from the lecture by Mr. Botton. He treats the issue with respect and acknowledges the fact that most religions enter into this infantilisation of human beings because they recognise something very basic about our nature, and this is what faith normally capitalises on. We do not understand everything. And the implications of not understanding everything are quite important when it comes to how we comprehend life and the purpose of it.

In a meritocracy such as we aspire to currently, and somewhat already have achieved (social mobility statistics prove that we are not there yet), there is a rather significant issue of responsibility. Since everything is attributed through merit, everything is your own doing. So sitting in the street begging for money becomes your own doing. You have engineered this situation yourself by not getting and education and a well paid job. On the flip side of this you have the implication that the millionare and the billionaire deserved what they earned. It was won through the merit of their investments or work.

So when we do not fully comprehend the situation and the rules of the great societal chess game, we get bumped into and shoved out of the way by the people who understand enough of it to start making their social climb a reality. This is all very individualising.

This is also the time for the final point, and I will bring back Mr. Botton to make it for me. Two years prior to the talk on atheism he gave another lecture, this time on the cause and value of the meritocracy. He outlines specifically the point about responsibility and sense of self-value as an issue for this social construct. Because after all in a meritocracy you have only yourself to blaim for not being Bill Gates. This is why so many books have been written on just accepting yourself. The merry-go-round of society tells you a completely different story and shoves in your face the demotivating motivational mantra: "Climb, climb, climb!"