The Dark Side of Meritocracy

What was it about meritocracy positively defined that so appealed to new labour? The party whose previous incarnation was inextricably bound up with the working class. It offered an alternative to the rigid class-bound system, where hierarchies were fixed essentially based on the accident of birth. In a perfect meritocracy this was Michael Young's great insight. He pointed out that in an aristocratic society those at the top couldn't really believe they had earned their place.