meritocracy

Definition

Rule by merit and talent.

Etymology

From merit + -o- + -cracy, coined by British sociologist Alan Fox in 1956 in an article in Socialist Commentary from May 1956, used as a derisive term, and popularized by British sociologist Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington in his 1958 book The Rise of the Meritocracy.

Example Sentences

• "As a small nation without natural resources, Singapore relies on education and meritocracy to develop its economy."
• "In Markovits’s telling, the rise of the meritocracy is a story of unintended consequences."
• "Its faculty has also been a factory of books taking differing positions on the merits and demerits of meritocracy and elite education."