Meritocracy And The American Dream

The term meritocracy is the idea of hard work and dedication equaling success, it is the principal which is the main idea behind the American dream. The article by the Economist “Inequality and the American Dream” and the Guardian’s article “Meritocracy: the great delusion that ingrains inequality” both discuss the inequality despite this idea of meritocracy. This shows that the concept that anyone can be successful as a result of merit is an inaccurate assumption. Both articles discuss many examples of the lack of effectiveness of meritocracy, mainly with the pressure applied to the middle class, the difficulty to arise from social stations, and the lack of opportunity for an education. The first point being examined from these two articles

The jobs threatened by outsourcing—data-processing, accounting and so on—are white-collar jobs; the jobs done by the poor—cleaning and table-waiting, for example—could never be done from Bangalore. (Inequality and the American Dream).
This shows how the advancements in technology and the globalization of the world leads to merit being unjustifiable because regardless of how much effort is being put forward jobs for those who are part of the middle class are capable of being completed in various countries around the world, so employers have a larger selection of potential employees, therefore they can choose to employ based on how it would benefit their company, not because of the effort being put forward by the individual. Another example of how “Inequality and the American Dream” shows the threat to the middle class is how twenty-five percent of American people do not believe their economy is in a good state, “Only one in four Americans believes the economy is in good shape. While firms' profits have soared, wages for the typical worker have barely budged. The middle class—admittedly a vague term in America—feels squeezed” (Inequality and the American Dream). This is yet another example of how the middle class are those who are often being associated with this idea of hard work leading to success, yet they seem to be losing their opportunities due to the fact

The idea you could be anything you wanted to be, if only you tried hard enough, was increasingly hard to swallow. Even for the relatively pampered middle classes, jobs had dried up, become downgraded and over-pressured, debt had soared and housing was increasingly unaffordable (Littler).
This quote shows how despite not having it as difficult as the lower class, the middle class is also being faced with inequality which led to difficulty having a high quality of life. It explains how the belief that hard work leads to achievement, which is clearly not the case.
Another predominate point mentioned in both articles is the difficulty to climb the social ladder. First, looking at the Economists article’s which states “A long ladder is fine, but it must have rungs” (Inequality and the American Dream). this shows that it is fine to have a difficult path, as long as it is obtainable, which the article is relating to the idea that meritocracy does not provide equality. Similarly, the Guardian’s article states “But climbing up the social ladder became an increasing individualised matter, and as the rich got richer the ladders became longer.” Which makes the same point on how the ladder is difficult to