People worldwide tend to believe that their societies are more meritocratic than they actually are. We propose the belief in meritocracy is widespread because it is rooted in simple, seemingly obvious causal-explanatory intuitions. Our proposal suggests solutions for debunking the myth of meritocracy and increasing support for equity-oriented policies.
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Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive.
Trends Cogn Sci
January 2025
New York University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address:
People worldwide tend to believe that their societies are more meritocratic than they actually are. We propose the belief in meritocracy is widespread because it is rooted in simple, seemingly obvious causal-explanatory intuitions. Our proposal suggests solutions for debunking the myth of meritocracy and increasing support for equity-oriented policies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConspiracy Beliefs and the Perception of Intergroup Inequalities.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull
September 2024
Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
Conspiracy beliefs are prevalent among members of disadvantaged groups. Adopting a social identity perspective, we hypothesized that these beliefs would reduce the endorsement of internal attributions for inequalities that could negatively affect the image of disadvantaged ingroups. In Study 1 ( = 1,104), conspiracy mentality was negatively associated with meritocracy beliefs, which attribute success and failure to internal factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultidimensionality in merit attitudes: The role of hard work, skills, and social connections in Europe.
Soc Sci Res
August 2024
Department of Sociology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA. Electronic address:
Attitudinal scholarship on values related to merit often identifies three key dimensions that include: attitudes towards hard work, attitudes towards skill, and attitudes towards social connections. In this paper, we examine how individuals evaluate the importance of these three dimensions simultaneously and from a multidimensional framework. We apply Latent Class Analysis (LCAs) on data from round 9 of the European Social Survey (ESS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany White Americans are unaware of or tend to deny the existence of White privilege. One potential explanation for this denial is the belief that America functions as a meritocracy. Prior research suggests that morally reframed messages can change individuals' beliefs when the reframed messages align with their personal moral values.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCan cognitive dissonance explain beliefs regarding meritocracy?
Soc Sci Res
March 2024
Department of Social Sciences, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Getafe, Spain. Electronic address:
Why do economically disadvantaged people often regard inequality as fair? The literature on deliberative justice suggests that people regard inequality as fair when it is proportional to inequality in effort or other inputs - i.e. when it is meritocratic.
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