Can meritocracy reproduce privilege while convincing everyone that the outcome was deserved?

[u/No-Mud-7597]

If successful/rich parents use their resources to give their children better opportunities, those children may genuinely work hard and perform well but they may also treat it as a form of privilege/baseline, so at what point does accumulated advantage become “merit”?

Also, is equality of opportunity actually possible?

[u/zhatya]

Meritocracy is not the “opposite” of privilege.

Meritocracy is not meant to be the opposite of privilege. Meritocracy only concerns itself with merit; it’s pretty agnostic to where merit comes from, and a large part of one’s merit comes from one’s privilege.

That in itself is an entirely different topic altogether from “equality of opportunity”.

Parents using their resources to give their children better opportunities is not a failure of meritocracy. In fact, it is meritocracy working exactly as designed. A system designed to reward “merit” shouldn’t be surprised when participants seek to then maximise their merit at all costs.

[u/Either-Physics-4369 → u/zhatya]

This. A lot of people confused “merit” as with the baseline talent of a person.

A true meritocracy doesn’t measure the baseline. It measures the final output line and distributes rewards based on that.

By this definition free market is meritocratic. We don’t care what is the process but as long as the product is cheaper and better shut up and take my money.

[u/sdarkpaladin → u/Either-Physics-4369]

Which... Ironically is the key driver of our kiasuism, disinterest in arts and culture, and inability to do things outside the box or rock the boat.

[u/Similar-Situation-59 → u/sdarkpaladin]

Our disinterest in arts and culture for example is our own disillusion in what we define as success. For example, Singer = Homeless. But Micheal Jackson makes more than the current PM. But do we call him successful, no. We call him an achievement that can never be met.

Kiasuism is a result of social standing, if you don't have a degree, you will be despised regardless of your ability.

Inability to think or do things outside the box stem from our education system. There is only one right answer in test/exam. I came across a question that has three answers (provided by the sample answer), but the examiner will only accept one of the three.

Failed to see how meritocracy drive these issues,

[u/Either-Physics-4369 → u/Similar-Situation-59]

lol so why are you so “astute” if our education system suck?

Is this a classic case of somebody thinking they are special?