What would a meritocratic society look like?
In my mind the four most meritocratic societies are the U.S., Israel, Japan and Sweden.
The U.S. pretty much got rid of the last vestiges of the upper class when the Blue Books disappeared in the 1960s. Israel was dominated by the early settlers until the 1980s when business expanded rapidly. Japan still had vestiges of the samurai families until the 1970s but now they exist mostly as residual institutions. Sweden had a strong medieval class structure but has spent fifty years under socialism trying to erase it.
So what can we reasonably say....
So what can we reasonably say about with these four examples? I know these four countries fairly well from the amount of time I have spent in each and from intense study?
First, industrial commerce thrives in a meritocratic environment and
contributes to the expansion of meritocracy. Commerce is the most
meritocratic human institution to come along since the Chinese
introduced written entrance tests for the Mandarin class. The
contemporary notion of merit is wide open, measured by a broad-based,
non-class market. No one is excluded and the breadth of merit is
broader than the human mind can conceive. Athletes of every sort are
rewarded including those who can control a golf ball. Thousands of
independent artists and artisans of every specie are supported and
rewarded by commerce.
Second, all four of the meritocratic societies have very high status
for women and weak family structures. In each of the meritocratic
societies women are active in the market at participation levels above
65% during much of their working life…more so than in most other
societies.
Third, each of the four societies has been experiencing a steady
movement of the top deciles of income earners to a greater distance
from the median income. The rest of the society seems to remain
middleclass during the past twenty years while the income becomes more
skewed on the upper end. This may be a short-term phenomenon. It is
too early to
tell. It may also be inherent in meritocracy although
non-meritocratic societies have the most egregious skewing of income
and the smallest middle classes.
Fourth, the greater the social diversity of the four societies correlates with the greatest top decile income spread. The U.S. and Israel are the most diverse and have the greatest income spread. Japan and Sweden are the least diverse and have experienced the least income spread. (My data for Israel is inadequate and undocumented because I count as Israeli's people who have Israeli citizenship but live and earn outside the country. Until recently there were tax penalties for successful Israelis to pay if they paid their taxes in Israel.)