> Not kidding. Its this circular 'meritocracy' argument that makes for insular, inbred organizations with few creative ideas.
Just thinking out loud here but what's the alternative? Random allocation of goods/power or random promotion of individuals/companies based on nothing?
At least in a meritocracy advancement of an individual/organization is based on some performance measurement - we can of course argue about different performance measures and sets of tasks - but we have some means of guiding society in a normative way.
You could actually design your organization to find the best fit for each member of the team. Hire based on differing skills and approach, instead of dismissing them as "not a cultural fit".
When the 'norm' is defined as 'just like the rest of us' is when you get into trouble.
You would prefer college admissions be based on a blind lottery system? That seems like a great way to destroy an education system. Would degrees then be allocated randomly to people who may or may not have studied? Maybe you’re being sarcastic.
That's missing the point. Its the staff/teaching that has become insular. The students enter with lots of creativity and individual ideas. They get graded and norm'd to death, step into line or fail, and spit out.
So far historically (as long time back as we can see) - by FAR the most effective and fair method for defining those things has been the Free Market Economy. (With addition of a few regulations to prevent fraud and corruption.) It's not perfect. But what is?
But isn't free market's main goal basically the accumulation of wealth and the tokens of the economic system it's being applied to ? edit: disregard that, the aim of free market is to provide an environment where all players play with same rules Regardless of the actual products or services it delivers. Although I am a proponent of some aspects of the free market I don't agree the goals should emerge from it.
Not kidding. Its this circular 'meritocracy' argument that makes for insular, inbred organizations with few creative ideas.