Understanding Meritocracy

Meritocracy is a social system in which success and status in life depend primarily on individual talents, abilities, and effort. It is a social system in which people advance on the basis of their merits. A meritocratic system contrasts with aristocracy, for which people advance on the basis of the status and titles of family and other relations.   From the days of Aristotle, who coined the term ethos, the idea of awarding positions of power to those most capable have been a part of political discussion not only for governments but for business endeavors as well. Many Western societies--the United States chief among them--are commonly considered to be meritocracies, meaning these societies are built on the belief that anyone can make it with hard work and dedication. Social scientists often refer to this as the bootstrap ideology, evoking the popular notion of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps.   However, many challenge the validity of the position that Western societies are meritocracies, perhaps rightfully so. Widespread evidence exists, to varying degrees, within each of these societies of structural inequalities and systems of oppression designed and developed specifically to limit opportunities based on class, gender, race, ethnicity, ability, sexuality, and other social markers. Aristotles Ethos and Meritocracy In discussions of rhetoric, Aristotle relates the epitome of his understanding of the word ethos as the mastery of a particular subject.   Rather than determining merit based on the modern state of affairs as exemplified by the political system in place at the time, Aristotle argued that it should come from a traditional understanding of aristocratic and oligarchical structures that define good and knowledgeable. In 1958, Michael Young wrote a satirical paper mocking the Tripartite System of British education called The Rise of the Meritocracy, declaring that merit is equated with intelligence-plus-effort, its possessors are identified at an early age and selected for appropriate intensive education, and there is an obsession with quantification, test-scoring, and qualifications. The term has come to frequently be described in modern day sociology and psychology as any act of judgment based on merit. Although some disagree about what qualifies as true merit, most now agree that merit should be the primary concern for selecting an applicant for a position. Social  Inequality and Merit Disparity In modern times, especially in the United States, the idea of a merit-based-only system of governance and business creates a disparity, as the availability of resources to cultivate merit are largely predicated upon ones current and historic socioeconomic status. Thus, those born into higher socioeconomic standing--those who have more wealth--have access to more resources than those born into lower standing.   Unequal access to resources has a direct and significant effect on the quality of education a child will receive all the way from kindergarten through university. The quality of ones education, among other factors related to inequalities and discrimination, directly affects the development of merit and how meritorious one will appear when applying for positions. In his 2012 book Meritocratic Education and Social Worthlessness, Khen Lampert argues that a kinship exists between merit-based scholarships and education and social Darwinism, wherein only those given opportunities from birth are able to survive natural selection: By awarding only those who possess the means to afford a higher-quality education, either through intellectual or financial merit, a disparity is institutionally created between the impoverished and the wealthy, those born with inherent disadvantages and those born into socioeconomic prosperity. While meritocracy is a noble ideal for any social system, achieving it first requires recognizing that social, economic, and political conditions may exist which make it impossible. To achieve it, then, such conditions must be corrected.

Tips For A Successful Career - 904 Words

What should you do to forge a successful, gratifying career? Briefly explain each of the four dimensions that should be considered. Where do you need to improve? What is your plan to accomplish your improvement? To forge a successful career you should be a specialist, a generalist, self-reliant , connected and also be able to actively manage your relationship with your organization and be able to survive and thrive in the world. According to the text it is said you should be a specialist and a generalist, since in your career you do not just want to be a specialist, you want to advance up and get into higher positions in which your responsibility increases, you will deal with more people and and understand if not all at least more areas of the organization. To be a specialist you need to be skillful expert in a particular valuable area which will help give the firm and the customers a more concrete and knowledgable value. To be a generalist means to have a wide range of knowledge about diverse areas in the organization. To be self-reliant means to be autonomous and take responsibility for your own actions. As a human who wants to grow it is our duty to go the extra mile and do what is necessary to grow without the help of a boss or a company, we must try to be entrepreneurs and take risk and see where we make mistakes, work hard towards improving those mistakes via practise and rise upwards. To be connected means to have a lot of good relations with clients and peopleShow MoreRelatedTips For A Freelance Contractor1067 Words   |  5 PagesTip#1: Be Careful With The Niche You Choose Today you will find that almost all professionals can freelance right from the comfort of their home, being able to choose what projects they would like to be a part of and decide the pace of their work. 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Internet Laws Essay Example For Students

Internet Laws Essay Cyber Space Law Right now there is a very interesting war being waged in the court rooms across America. It is a battle for the rights of citizens on the Internet. The Internet is a fairly new medium gaining wide popularity in 1994. Because of its incredible growth in popularity in a very short amount of time it has been hard to regulate. The first act to come out regarding the Internet and Freedom of Speech was PL 99-508 the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act of 1986 . This act consisted of two parts, title I and title II. Title I Interception of Communications and Related Matters. Basically takes the existing laws and updates them to include computers. Where before it was illegal to intercept private telephone calls, it now says it is illegal to intercept private computer transmissions. It also includes a provision to make it legal to intercept public radio transmissions like it is with public radio programs. It also allows Internet Service Providers to keep a log of who called and their activity on-line to protect themselves. Title II Stored Wire and Electronic Communications and Transactional Records Access. This provision adds sections to Title 18 of the United States Code (USC). In section 2701 Unlawful Access to Stored Communications; it makes it a federal offense to hack into a computer system. Actually what it says is that it is not illegal to gain access but once you do gain access, by mistake or intention, it is illegal to continue to access the computer system. This crime is punishable by $5000 or up to six months in jail. Section 2703 of USC Title 18 is the section that instructs Internet Service Providers to keep a back-up record of your activities on-line with a court order from a government entity. Then after the government notifies the individual in question, the material is either used by the agency or is destroyed. Probably the biggest battle yet over the first amendment rights so far has been the Communications Decency Act or CDA. In March 1995 Senator Jim Exon introduces legislation to criminalize online publication of any material deemed obscene, lascivious, filthy or indecent. This legislation was attached to a larger and popular Telecommunications Reform Bill. The Senate and the House voted to approve the Telecommunications Reform Bill in February 1996. After President Clinton signed the bill the ACLU filed a suit claiming it violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights. Eight days later US District Court Judge Ronald Buckwalter issues an order temporarily blocking the CDA and ruled that the CDA was unconstitutionally over broad and vague. In June 1996 a panel declares the CDA unconstitutional; the Department of Justice appeals the decision to the Supreme Court. On March 19, 1997 the Supreme Court hears the Shea vs. the ACLU case regarding the CDA. On June 26, 1997 the Supreme Court decided for the ACLU saying that the District Court was correct in holding that the CDA violated the First Amendment because it was too broad in definition. The Supreme Court however did not agree that the CDA violated the Fifth Amendment because it was too vague. With that loss, proponents of the CDA have vowed to bring new legislation. Another Bill that was introduced into legislation is the Child Online Protection Act or COPA. In March of 1998, the Child Online Protection Act was proposed to make it a federal crime for Whoever, in interstate or foreign commerce, by means of the World Wide Web, knowingly makes any communication for commercial purposes that includes any material that is harmful to minors without restricting access to such material by minors pursuant to subsection (c) should be fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both. The ACLU and other groups immediately filed a federal court complaint challenging the law. A temporary restraining order was granted enjoining enforcement of the law by a federal court. On February 1, 1998 a US District Court Judge Lowell Reed entered a preliminary injunction blocking the COPA. .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a , .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .postImageUrl , .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a , .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a:hover , .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a:visited , .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a:active { border:0!important; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a:active , .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9223d0a807e1fe586b4971d8a4452a4a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Single parenting and Raising Healthy Children Essay An appeal is expected. In Virginia there is a law that became effective July 1, 1996 that prohibits state employees, including employees of state colleges and universities, from using state-owned or leased computer equipment to access, download, print or store any information infrastructure files or services having sexually explicit content, except with the express permission of their agency head for a bona fide, agency-approved research project or other agency-approved undertaking. This law has been called the Virginia Net Decency Act. It is similar to the CDA law that was proposed in Congress. Six Professors from Universities or state colleges in Virginia sued to have the law repealed citing that it was unconstitutional because it: (a) violates their rights and the rights of other state employees to freedom of speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution; (b) is unconstitutionally over broad and vague; and (3) violates the First Amendment and Due Process rights of public employees by establishing a system of prior restraint under which they may not speak or receive information and ideas without prior government approval. The State argued that while State employees were at work, they were public employees and not private citizens and therefore did not enjoy the same rights as private citizens. The court found for the plaintiffs saying that the Act is unreasonable because it restricts speech far beyond what is necessary. Moreover the act fails to come up with content neutral alternatives. The act was also cited as being over inclusive and under inclusive in content. Because of all this, the state of Virginia lost their case. A law that was recently argued in NYs District Court was particularly interesting to me. The law made it illegal to use any speech on the Internet that was deemed to be offensive or harmful to a minor. The ACLU fought the ruling saying that the law was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. Interestingly enough, The ACLU called on the Commerce Clause. Citing as precedent the Supreme Court case that prohibited an Arizona law that restricted train lengths to 14 cars, the ACLU got the law overturned. They said restricting speech in New York could restrict the commerce of an Internet site in Texas. The Judge agreed and the ACLU won the case.Bibliography:

The Importance of Action free essay sample

A comparison has been made between Edmund Burke and his brother, one a famed statesman and orator whose ideas provided the foundation for a widely respected political philosophy, the other, Richard, a man whose name, ideas and thoughts became virtually irrelevant after his death. Few people would question who was more successful. Because Edmund obviously surpassed his brother in fame, it is striking that many who knew the historically insignificant Richard considered him the brother with more natural talent. The difference, then, between the remarkable eighteenth-century thinker and his unsung brother lies in what each did with his respective gifts. Edmund Burke achieved greatness because he took action. While he was young, he worked hard to gain knowledge and experience; as an adult, he used these to form ideas. When he had strong ideas, he turned them into words that influenced the world. Because he was willing to expend great effort in conveying them, his thoughts and ideas attracted followers from many countries and subsequent generations, and he became known as the Father of Modern Conservatism. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Action or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Throughout his life, Edmund constantly took action not only to reach personal excellence but also to champion causes. He once said, All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, and his accomplishments are evidence that he truly believed it. Such a notable man as Edmund Burke is one worth recognizing, so it is his example that I look to for the basis of my goals. I want to achieve my potential, and promote what is right. I also want always to remember to stand up for truth and what is good. My goal is not recognition such as Edmund Burke received, but I want to pattern my life after him by taking action. What will determine my success is not just my ability to achieve, but my willingness to take action.