The ideal of meritocracy rationalizes social inequality as natural individual failure.

Evidence

When the individual is seen as the basic social unit, there are specific consequences: (1) thinking and intelligence begins with the individual, as in politics (John Locke), and morality (individual rights); (2) social decisions are based on the good of the individual rather than the community, as with laws that privilege private property owners over the larger community; and (3) those who do not succeed in society are seen as individual failures: either they were too lazy or they simply do not have adequate natural talents that those who do succeed have. Thus, the American ideal of meritocracy—a system based on the reward of hard work and talent—rationalizes individual success or failure and social inequality as simply a result of human nature. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 552

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Deficit explanations deflect analysis of structural barriers like low-wage jobs — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 942; Meritocratic theory attributes income inequality to unequal skill distribution. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 316; The meritocracy myth masks structural inequality and justifies tech wealth — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 673 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Meritocracy is a fairy tale masking class as individual choice #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 222
• The meritocracy myth masks structural inequality and justifies tech wealth #corroborates (0.90) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 673
• The meritocratic promise of market society disguised its classist foundations. #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1571
• Meritocratic theory attributes income inequality to unequal skill distribution. #expands (0.85) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 316
• Meritocracy belief blames excluded individuals for their own exclusion #corroborates (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 711
• Biological determinism lets privileged subjects dismiss the social causes of inequality #complicates (0.80) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 118
• People spontaneously justify inequality without questioning the social system’s legitimacy #expands (0.80) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1391
• Sartre’s least-favoured principle delegitimizes elite rationalizations of inequality #responds-to (0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 858
• Blaming structural inequality for outcomes protects self-esteem in disadvantaged groups #complicates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1070
• Belief in meritocracy yields psychological satisfactions beyond logical consistency #expands (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2198