Meritocratic equality of opportunity: Economic efficiency, social justice, or both?

Abstract

The relation between social class and social justice is currently a matter of public as well as academic controversy. Some analysts see existing patterns of social mobility as evidence of inequality of opportunity, while others regard them as meritocratic, simply reflecting the distribution of ability and motivation among the population. This article brings together some important developments in normative thinking about social justice with recent empirical findings about educational attainment and social mobility. Various conceptions of ‘merit’ are identified, with different senses shown to be appropriate in different contexts. The authors argue that it is important to distinguish between the criteria that do or should govern the allocation of individuals to occupations, on the one hand, and the criteria that do or should govern the allocation of rewards to individuals on the other. They conclude that the New Right defence of a meritocratic but unequal society points to a conception of social justice that is consistent with persisting social inequality, based on the differential possession of qualities over which people have no control. The article therefore argues for a more rigorous examination of the relationship between meritocracy and social justice.