Academic merit in schools only weakly predicts economic success, making school-based legitimation largely symbolic.

Evidence

In this chapter, we have suggested that education should be viewed as reproducing inequality by legitimating the allocation of individuals to eco­ nomic positions on the basis of ostensibly objective merit. Moreover, the basis for assessing merit— competitive academic performance— is only weakly associated with the personal attributes indicative of individual suc­ cess in economic life. Thus the legitimation process in education assumes a largely symbolic form. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 1110

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on credentialism and screening (Collins, credential society) and to the learned pattern about form over function in legitimation. — connects to: Schooling is too weak an influence to equalize economic opportunity — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 565; Both meritocratic and Deweyan educational theories misread how schools serve the economy — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 690; The achievement-subject’s characterlessness makes it economically efficient — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 107

Broader Connections

• Schooling is too weak an influence to equalize economic opportunity #corroborates (0.90) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 565
• Both meritocratic and Deweyan educational theories misread how schools serve the economy #expands (0.80) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 690
• The achievement-subject’s characterlessness makes it economically efficient #complicates (0.75) — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 107