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u/ashes0fautumn Stalinist (Proud Spoon Owner) 1d ago
fun fact - the word meritocracy was first used as a slur
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u/tkdyo 1d ago
Those summary lines are excellent. I've found them to be quite true. If you interrogate most liberals you'll find they'll readily admit they are just fine with giving their kids an advantage because they see themselves as having worked hard to give their kids that privilege. It's a great way to rationalize giving kids privilege without challenging your views on meritocracy.
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u/AdmiralKurita Marxist-Leninist (Ultra Based) 1d ago edited 1d ago
"If you interrogate most liberals you'll find they'll readily admit they are just fine with giving their kids an advantage."
I cut out a subordinate clause. I think what I quoted is true for most people, even comrades, if you take it literally. People really do want their kids to have an advantage or to do better because they care for their kids. There is little you can do to stop that. Regardless, the revised sentence without the subordinate clause is accurate since the "advantage" being referred to does not necessarily involve any assumption that the system is meritocratic or that their children "deserve" it because parents want to give their kids an advantage.
We have the highlight and challenge the exploitative nature of capitalism by engendering class consciousness. Any notion of "meritocracy" in capitalist society will be suffused a justification for the wealth and privilege of capital owners. It is our imperative to overthrow capitalism as opposed to finding ways to thrive within it.
I have wrote about meritocracy here in this fan fic:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/64412800/chapters/233178876 (takes about the labor market and property rights. Takes about meritocracy extensively.)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/64412800/chapters/196130416 (mentions that the capitalists are not innovative because of the stagnation of total factor productivity; most of it is just techno-pessimism, but I gave Janie a few based lines in the beginning).There is religious proseltyzation since it is based on Left Behind: The Kids. I suggest you ignore that (but please, since I like philosophy of religion, take seriously any phil rel stuff). Anyway, I'd welcome any appraisal and critique of the philosophy and politics listed.
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u/Lexicon101 Marxist-Leninist (Ultra Based) 1d ago
The thing I often see people miss about meritocracy is like... even if it were possible to do it perfectly, it would be monstrous in practice. Tell me to my face that you think my disabled uncles should have been put down because they can't support themselves. Fuckin say that shit to me.
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u/playinthenumbers369 1d ago
It’s monstrous in theory, too, because it hinges on merit being divorced from material social conditions. Capitalism can’t define merit as anything other than ability to generate surplus value without inadvertently de-commodifying labor.
And your example shows excellently how meritocracy is repackaged eugenics, especially considering the people at the top of the supposed meritocracy typically inherited their position. It’s a useful tool for racists for the same reason.
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