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The Power of Meritocracy
The triumph of meritocracy as a social ideal was a turning point in human history. Before the Enlightenment, most societies were elaborately stratified—be it England’s hierarchy of king, duke, earl, viscount, and baron, or China’s imperial order of emperor, heshuo qinwang, duoluo junwang, duoluo beile, and gushan beizi. In these regimes, the vast majority of human beings—peasants, servants, and slaves—had little hope of bettering their station.
Philosophers like John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau questioned the idea of an unelected elite. Writing on the eve of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine boldly proclaimed that “[o]f more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight ...
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