On the recent college admission scandal, author Michael Locke McLendon (The Psychology of Inequality) argues “the idea that some have climbed to the top through their own merit is an aristocratic ideology, not a democratic one, therefore meritocracy caused the college admissions scandal.”
In his article, Mr. McLendon referenced French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau ’s Discourse on the Foundations of Inequality Among Men. Rousseau’s theory, paraphrased by McLendon, is that “inequality engenders a potentially noxious passion termed amour-propre, [which] literally translates as ‘self-love.’” McLendon goes on to say that in today’s time, this “self-love” has morphed into competing for “a STEM degree at an Ivy League university and making making millions in Silicon Valley, or becoming a hot-shot lawyer on Wall Street.”
“Eventually, Rousseau thought the talented and wealthy would become obsessed with their superiority to the point that they would be cruel and take pleasure in dominating the lower classes by denying them the resources necessary for a good life or even destroying their livelihoods,” writes Mr. McLendon.
As for the college scandal: “After climbing to the top of the social ladder through their own merit, parents develop an arrogant entitlement to everything society has to offer.” Therefore, by Mr. McLendon’s reasoning, it is precisely meritocracy which caused the admissions scandal.
McLendon’s argument comes at its strongest when he points out, “After all, it is not like their children needed to attend these schools to maintain their standard of living. What is more, several of the children had little interest in education, or learning from leading scholars in the world.”
Some readers – myself included – don’t agree with Mr.McLendon’s reasoning of the causality of meritocracy and entitlement. Twitter user David Searle commented: “The problem as identified in this piece is entitlement and corruption driven by the successful previous generation, not meritocratically recognizing the current generation’s best. Entitlement and corruption is unfortunately an intrinsic part of every system – plenty of socialist and communist case studies. Read Orwell to appreciate its part of the human condition…”