[HN Gopher] Myth of Meritocracy
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       Myth of Meritocracy
        
       Author : DiscourseFan
       Score  : 6 points
       Date   : 2025-01-05 21:34 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | DiscourseFan wrote:
       | In the past, in the days of "early high capitalism," it was the
       | inverse: the capitalists were under such duress from market
       | conditions that their everyday fate was completely unpredictable,
       | one could become rich or poor on a whim of the market. On the
       | other hand, the workers, seeing the uncertainty in the movement
       | of capital, organized themselves and attempted to overthrow the
       | system. Thus, the counter-revolution, the subject of Marx's _18th
       | Brumaire_ book. This happens in many places, in many times, over
       | and over again, whenever the workers gain some level of
       | consciousness the capitalists realize that they too are a class,
       | and they fight back against them, and they get stronger and more
       | well-organized every time. But the market demands
       | unpredictability, mobility, interchangeability; these
       | counterrevolutions fall apart by their own conditions of
       | possibility, that of the rule of the very class whose sole wealth
       | comes from further destabilizing their own ability to rule. These
       | crises, when they happen, are the only cracks in the counter-
       | revolution; and both the strains of organized labor on the
       | economy and the development of capital itself can create their
       | conditions. On account of that, if one wishes to overturn the
       | rule of capital, they have two choices: as a worker, to become an
       | organizer. As a capitalist, to expand the rule of capital and
       | break through state-controls.
       | 
       | So, while there may not be "meritocracy," there certainly is a
       | virtue in the domination of the market over the domination of the
       | state, and individuals in any class position benefit from the
       | liberalization of an economy.
        
       | nuancebydefault wrote:
       | I'm not sure what the point of the poster is, simply pointing to
       | a wikipedia page.
       | 
       | I could make a wikipedia page titled 'myth of democracy' in which
       | I state 'it is argued by some people that democracy is a myth'.
       | Then I could post it here and see what happens.
       | 
       | That said, meritocracy is definitely not a myth. People encourage
       | their kids to study well for good reasons: make sure they can
       | later contribute to society and hopefully reap the fruits. This
       | is how the (be it imperfect) system works.
        
       | lapcat wrote:
       | This same link was submitted an hour ago and flagged dead, so I'm
       | not sure why it was submitted again 15 minutes later:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42604924
        
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       (page generated 2025-01-05 23:01 UTC)