Media
Media // The Risks of Meritocracy
June
By Renato Moretti and Johanna Contreras
Allusions to merit are frequent in public debate and in the analysis of collective representatives, authorities, and prominent professionals. However, it is not a simple or even fair category of evaluation, the authors of this column for CIPER describe: «Merit, as well as meritocracy, has a problematic nature, and it is sensible to carefully examine both its effective absence and its ideological presence, or its eventual realization as a way of forming society.»
¿What is merit? The answer to this question is not unequivocal and presents socio-historical differences. Today, there seems to be a consensus around the combination of talent and effort as the main ingredients of merit, although the valuation of meritorious qualities differs contextually. However, the key to merit seems to permeate the different spheres of society in which we need to evaluate others and ourselves.
The column presents some ideas contained in the book Merit and meritocracy. Paradoxes and unfulfilled promises. Published in CIPER 10.06.2022
