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The first point is to realize life is NOT a meritocracy, but many believe it is.
The article references this as well:
"Meritocracy became the prevailing ideology, encouraging workers to aim high and reap the resultant rewards. Anyone could achieve greatness. Paupers could become princes.
The more people made, the more likely they were to believe they were worthy of it.
A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology last year found that the higher people perceived their social class to be, the more likely they were to believe that success comes to those who most deserve it.
Perhaps more tellingly, those of lower status were viewed as unworthy.
That can create a "very damaging" culture, says Vicki Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis."
This mistaken belief in a meritocracy can be directly attributed to Puritan work ethic still be applied in a post-employment world as well as the Just World Fallacy, which is closely rooted in the Puritan work ethic and Dark Ages misapplications of religion and "God's Judgement."
Long story short, many people in America believe in the Just World model of reality, which dictates, "Everyone gets what they deserve in life." It does not take a skilled debater or orator to tear this philosophy to pieces. What of a starving child born into abject poverty? What did he or she do to "deserve" a short, brutish life of pain and suffering? Even if we try to sweep those inconvenient truths aside, the Just World Fallacy falls apart since it still assumes a person is somehow able to: choose their parents, choose where they are born, choose to avoid crippling illness or injury, and so on. This comical notion that the universe is balanced justly and that uncaring luck plays no role flies in the face of reality and is barely a step up from Dark Ages townsfolk condemning a sick man by claiming his illness "is judgement from God for his sins."
Unfortunately, the Just World Fallacy hangs on today since it allows people to fluff up their own egos. By believing they are "entirely self-made men," they can overlook the role luck played in their own lives and instead trumpet their virtue to others - how their hard work, skills, and "can do" attitude put them on the top. The dark corollary, which the article discusses, is how those who have not had success in life are mocked and hated for their "failure." The Just World model dictates that such failure must be self-inflicted - since "everyone gets what they deserve in life" - hence the hatred of the unemployed, the shame of being out of work, and the insane desire to cut social safety nets and beat down the lower classes.
The final disgusting aspect of the Just World outlook is that its circular reasoning leads people to support those in power who have profited from our economic disaster. Again, following the lunacy of "everyone gets what they deserve in life," the rich and powerful must deserve their lives or they wouldn't be rich and powerful. It is nothing but grade school circular reasoning, but many people buy into it and thus love the rich and hate the poor. Those in power, of course, wouldn't have it any other way, hence the continuing support for the Just World Fallacy throughout America.
Last edited by Rambler123; 03-26-2014 at 12:16 PM..
I agree a lot with this article. There is a hugely prevalent misperception in our society that economic success and our economy in general runs on a meritocracy system.
I used to believe it myself back when I was in college. I'd see the bums on the streets and assume they made an obvious bad decission like have kids out of wedlock as a teen, get addicted to drugs, commit crimes etc. Anyone who is reasonably smart, has a good work ethic, and for sure completes a practical college degree ought to at least be lower middle class.
Then I saw the reality. I watched some of the smartest and most hard working people I know from a science PhD program have a harder time finding a job than felons. I saw the way companies select candidates based on HR psychobabble and bigotry, nepotism, cronyism. I saw cronies who were near worthless be promoted and retained and hard workers given the axe at layoffs. I have come to the realization that our economic system is horribly out of whack and long term unemployment/underemployment can happen to anyone nowadays no matter what you do.
The most incidious thing is the people who believe in the meritocracy fallacy not only don't help people in need, they take pleasure out of denigrating them, jerking them arround, and otherwise being unempathetic to the point of sociopathy/sadism.
Lots of folks saying those $15/hr auto worker jobs of today sound pretty good. Union auto workers wouldn't believe it would have happened this way a decade ago. Many folks also bashed those unions and their workers 10 years ago. While rooting for their demise, they would have never imagined that they would find themselves largely in the same disposition regarding job prospects and income earning potential. I'm not a huge fan of unions, but with their slow demise, the labor market has progressively become more and more inhospitable.
Find something else to make you happy in this world besides money. From here on out, it will be in short supply for the average American. What's ironic is, the money supply has expanded so dramatically in the past 5 years, yet it's so much more elusive...
Lots of folks saying those $15/hr auto worker jobs of today sound pretty good. Union auto workers wouldn't believe it would have happened this way a decade ago. Many folks also bashed those unions and their workers 10 years ago. While rooting for their demise, they would have never imagined that they would find themselves largely in the same disposition regarding job prospects and income earning potential. I'm not a huge fan of unions, but with their slow demise, the labor market has progressively become more and more inhospitable.
Find something else to make you happy in this world besides money. From here on out, it will be in short supply for the average American. What's ironic is, the money supply has expanded so dramatically in the past 5 years, yet it's so much more elusive...
Good. Americans get exactly what they deserve for bashing and denigrating unions. Even if you weren't part of one, their pay scales ensured that wages and benefits for non-union members stayed competitive and healthy.
Now since they are "no longer needed" according to so many people on here, you can enjoy the fruits of declining union power....a race to the bottom for every profession. Do the jobs of three people, work sixty hour weeks and don't you dare take any vacation, oh and for the privilege of being employed you will get paid $15 dollars an hour.
Remember, this is what you all wanted. This is the beauty of free markets being played out right in front of you. Freedom for employers to abuse, mistreat and underpay you with impunity.
Good. Americans get exactly what they deserve for bashing and denigrating unions. Even if you weren't part of one, their pay scales ensured that wages and benefits for non-union members stayed competitive and healthy.
Now since they are "no longer needed" according to so many people on here, you can enjoy the fruits of declining union power....a race to the bottom for every profession. Do the jobs of three people, work sixty hour weeks and don't you dare take any vacation, oh and for the privilege of being employed you will get paid $15 dollars an hour.
Remember, this is what you all wanted. This is the beauty of free markets being played out right in front of you. Freedom for employers to abuse, mistreat and underpay you with impunity.
And the unions supported the politicians that sold them down the river.
Most elections nowadays it is a choice between Lucifer and Satan.
True, but there was that turning point -- one warned of the giant sucking sound, others also warned of sending jobs out - but they didn't win elections. Unions supported the politicians that sent the jobs away.
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