This is the definition I am using:

a system, organization, or society in which people are chosen and moved into positions of success, power, and influence on the basis of their demonstrated abilities and merit.

  • Danterious@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
    1·
    10 months ago

    which is where I think a lot of people who advocate for a more meritocracy-based society stand.

    Why do you think this is?

    • godzillabacter@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      If I was guessing, in general, I think people who advocate for a pure meritocracy in the USA feel the world should be evaluated in more black and white, objective terms. The financial impact and analytic nature of STEM and finance make it much easier to stratify practitioners “objectively” in comparison to finding, for instance, the “best” photographer. I think there is also a subset of US culture that thinks that STEM is the only “real” academic group of fields worth pursuing, and knowledge in liberal arts is pointless -> not contributing to society -> not a meaningful part of the meritocracy. But I’m no expert.

      • Danterious@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
        1·
        10 months ago

        I think there is also a subset of US culture that thinks that STEM is the only “real” academic group of fields worth pursuing, and knowledge in liberal arts is pointless -> not contributing to society -> not a meaningful part of the meritocracy.

        Yeah I agree with this quite a bit.