Dissecting The Myths Of Merit And Meritocracy PART-III

By Narendra Kumar Arya

15 January, 2013
Countercurrents.org:

The Historical Genes of Merit

The forms of merit could be traced to the concepts of race, caste, clans, blood-relations, loyalties, linage, ideology, competence, efficiency, education, accreditation from the crudest to the most sophisticated in the popular belief. The conception of merit to Greeks, Rajputs, Mughals, the Raj, American presidential system or British democratic system has been amazingly transformative and dynamic to suit particularistic circumstances.

To its adherents, merit implies a scientific and objective truth. It is scientific and objective because it follows certain principles faithful to its masters. The principles behind recognition, calculation, evaluation, accreditation are not just subjective, voluntary or whimsical but even their scientificism is not beyond critical pursuits. The principles derive their strength from ideologies of dominant classes. They evaluate and test but at benchmarks of already futile and personalised sciences of preferences and prioritisations. The dominant structures and institutions do not allow deviance. Outside the precincts of their scientificism no truth is said to exist. This is clearly the hegemonistic endeavours of ideologies of dominant elites and symbiotic portrayal of power structures to keep people disciplined .

Historicity of Intelligence Tests: Eugenics Project

Merit is often linked with intelligence. In the company and congregation of intelligent people whether in an organisation, system or structure merit is believed to exist .Intelligence in early years of 20 th century came at forefront. It was the period of ‘ethnic reasoning'- societies across the globe were being ranked on various bases of ethnicity, colour of skin, texture of nose or hair, and other physical traits, not only this, but even on a grounds which could be attributed to deeper repercussions-beyond the physicality or ‘present-being' but running in generations having its root in apparent scientificism of genetics –what emerged was intelligence. Intelligence is not as an individual's characteristic of body and brain but a signifier of generations and their accompanied hierarchised inferiority and superiority. It was the era of eugenics and it was the era of bigotry whereby the mankind was to be bred like the best breed of stallions under the allure of Social Darwinism. Clearly the roots of tests of intelligence lie in such racially empathised atmosphere of ranking of human races and what was assumed by races –the aggregate of individuals –if majority of individuals of a ‘racial stock' faired poor it was inferior race and which did well belonged to the race and racial brags. It provided sort of propaganda justificatory to ‘rule' the masses and spirit of democracy. But intelligence test since the times of its inventors Alfred Binet in 1905 had controversial character. Organisations inspired by Eugenics and politically implicit objectives mushroomed around the world especially in United States , England and Nazi Germany with Anglo-Saxon racial superiority implied. In USA almost half of the states passed laws which were influenced by such flawed and racially oriented biology. Its biggest victory and manifestation came in the form of Immigration Act of 1924 alias the National Origins Act aided by eugenicists and corporate lobbyists which even restricted entry of Eastern European and Mediterranean whites leave aside the ‘yellow' Asians ,'Black' Africans and ‘mixed' Mulattos , to avoid adulteration of ‘pure' Anglo Saxon blood. The essence of a thing invented is often decided by its objective. Thus, if the concept of intelligence is a historical corollary of racially imbued Eugenics, it's definitely must be more or less tarnished by the ideological shades of it parentage.