Meritocracy Fair

SOC 189 - #1 Exam

1. Is meritocracy fair? Discuss the pros and cons of our achievement-oriented society. Does it give rise to a meritorious elite? Why or why not?
This country was founded on the principle that one’s status in society should be determined by your individual achievements, not by your conditions at birth. The idea is that we are all created equal, with equal opportunities, not results. The concept of meritocracy is essential to our ideas about American exceptionalism.
A benefit of using meritocracy is that people are getting credit and success for their achievements – which is something everyone have control over and can do something about. This also creates motivation to work hard among the people. When the people are
For each of the following five scholars, please describe their contribution to the study of elites:

* Laura Nader
There is now a lot of literature on the poor, the disadvantages, women, blacks and various racial/ethnic groups. There is very little literature of the top of the class people.
Laura Nadel encouraged anthropologists to ”study up” in the early 1970s by writing the book “Up the Anthropologist – Perspectives Gained From Studying Up” in 1969. This was a try to get anthropologists to think more about the study of the colonizes rather than the colonized, the culture of power rather than the culture of powerless. But not many followed her advice, sociologists who do research on elites can be counted on two hands.
Nader thinks it’s important to study elites because it is an important contribution to any study of inequality – whether down, sideways, or through (1972).

* Gaetano Mosca
Elite rule is not a moral question, but a social fact. Most societies are ruled by a small number of individuals – and Mosca called this minority the “ruling class”.

Mosca was the first to make a systematic distinction between elite and masses. He says that in every society, it appears two classes of people: A class that rules and a class that is
The culture of critical discourse (CDD) is characterized by speech that is relatively more situation-free, more context of field “independent”. is an historically evolved set of rules, a grammar of discourse.
The culture of critical speech requires that the validity of claims be justified without reference to the speakers societal position or authority.
The new class is the intellectual elite
Måten å snakke på, være på uten å nevne deg selv (være objektiv) – den nye eliten er intellektuell elite. 2 nye eliter I dag, intellektuell og teknologisk(beste I sitt felt). Når man argumenterer for sine måter å se verden på, gjør man det uten å snakke om sin egen måte å se verden på – det skulle være riktig, faktum, ikke ha noe om hvor man kom fra. Det er det man sier som betyr noe, ikke bakgrunn.
Ny måte å se på verden på, ikke ekskluderende men vil mingle med resten. Vil holde seg over andre ved eget språk, men slipper andre inn hvis de jobber hardt nok.

* Allegory of the cave
Plato. Who could be the just ruler of society? The just ruler has to know the truth, be responsible and willing to make sacrifices that need to be made to be the leader. The story: people in a cave looking at shadows – believing this is the truth and the real world, one is released and get to get out to see the