Meritocratic Image of Success and Its Determinants

Abstract

This study focuses on determinants of a meritocratic image of success under communism and during the transitional period directly following its collapse. Using data from the 1987-88 and 1992 Social Inequality Module of the International Social Survey Program, the effects of sociodemographic and social stratification variables on a meritocratic image of success are examined. A meritocratic image of success is defined as a belief that one has earned one’s current level of success through education, hard work, and ambition. Ascribed statuses, age and sex, do affict beliefs about opportunities for getting ahead, particularly in 1992. Achieved characteristics, education and income, play a considerably lesser role in determining a meritocratic image of success than theories would have predicted. Finally, opposition to state paternalism is very important in determining all attitudes in 1987-88, while it plays almost no role in 1992.