Meritocracy in Education: An Implicit Theory Perspective

Abstract

This paper tries to look at the relation between intelligence and meritocracy where the concept of intelligence has legitimized the concept of meritocracy. Viewing intelligence as a stable or fixed entity, the concept of intelligence has legitimized the concept of ‘meritocracy’. In the name of merit based society, a large number of intelligence tests are being developed, thus, categorizing and labeling the individuals on fixed traits. The paper tries to give a unique perspective to meritocracy which has largely stood for long on the entity theory of intelligence which says that intelligence is a fixed trait and that it cannot improve through effort. Borrowing the concept of incremental theory from the implicit theory perspective (Dweck and Leggett, 1988) which posits that intelligence is not a stable entity and can improve through effort, this paper contributes a critic to the concept of meritocracy which stands on the construct of intelligence which is superficial and still struggling to reach a consensus on its definition. The paper provides useful insights to the field of education, psychology and sociology.