meritocracy massively distorts how we think of ourselves and how we value ourselves merritocracy teaches that the elite deserves its advantages and the lived experience of the meritocrat precisely because it's so hard to be one is one that validates that teaching this is not a group of wasts or layabouts this is a group of extremely earnest hardworking serious people who have sacrificed a lot to get here and they've done it under an ideology that says when you sacrifice in this way that's the effort and you do really well at something that's the talent then you've earned it and you deserve it and so meritocracy creates an elite that is indifferent to the common good and that believes in its own entitlements which is very damaging for society and not so great for the elite either at the same time meritocracy tells the rest of society that it's their fault that they aren't in this room that if they'd been a little more talented if they'd been a little harder working if they'd been a little more virtuous if they'd had a little more merit then they would have been able to measure up they would have succeeded and so they are to blame for what is in fact a form of structural exclusion and so meritocracy makes the elite smug and leaves everyone else naked in their rejection and that's an extremely damaging place to be that explains why in your country and in my country those who are excluded by meritoc by meritocracy now have a lower life expectancy than they did three years ago let me be clear there has been no other time and place in human history in which absent war or massively fatal plague and covid is not that plague there's been a diminution in life expectancy for a large segment of the population the source is addiction the source is alcoholism the source is obesity the source is suicide these are internalized forms of self-hatred produced by what meritocracy says to the people whom it excludes just as neoliberalism and davos are internalized forms of conceit produced by what meritocracy says to the elite so once again meritocracy excludes most people from advantage it ens snares the rich in a web of effort and distortion and it distorts all of us individually and collectively making us value the wrong things in the wrong ways and for the wrong reasons which is as the motion says why there is no merit in meritocracy or why as i would say merit is a shame are we truly living in a society where hard work guarantees success daniel maravitz in his powerful oxford union address shatters the comfortable illusion of meritocracy revealing its insidious grip on our lives he peels back the layers of a system that promises fairness but delivers inequality a system that for many is a rigged game from the start prepare to have your assumptions challenged and your perspective shifted avitz doesn't just critique the system he exposes its devastating human cost paints a vivid picture of wealthy children trapped in a relentless cycle of academic pressure mental health sacrificed at the altar of merit this isn't just about the elite it's about how this distorted ideal shapes our values warping our understanding of success and worth is the prize worth the price you'll ask yourself the most chilling revelation is how meritocracy subtly justifies exclusion by framing success as purely a product of individual effort it absolves society of its responsibility for systemic inequality this narrative maravitz argues blames the marginalized for their own misfortune creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of exclusion are we complicit in a system that blames the victim this is the question that will haunt you the consequences of meritocracy extend far beyond academic pressure and economic inequality avitz connects the dots between systemic exclusion and the stark realities of lower life expectancy he lays bare the human cost of a system that devalues and discards those who don't fit its narrow definition of success can a system be considered successful if it shortens lives marovitz implores us to redefine success to move beyond the narrow metrics of exams and elite institutions he challenges us to embrace a more holistic understanding of human potential one that values diverse talents and recognizes the inherent worth of every individual what if success was measured by compassion not just credentials this video isn't just a lecture it's a debate a clash of ideas that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew arc of its powerful arguments are sure to spark a fire within you igniting a desire to challenge the status quo are you ready to see the world through a new lens watch this video and prepare to be transformed well i am standing in a room of uber meritocrats devoted to the project of attacking meritocracy which means i'll spend a lot of my time attacking all of you now i think it'll be okay for two reasons the first is that one of my themes is going to be that meritocracy makes the elites glutton for punishment so you'll enjoy being attacked the second is that i'm genuinely interested in what you think and please after the debate is over you have my name if you have thoughts send them to me i want to make three points the first is that meritocracy excludes most of society from meaningful access to advantage not because we live in an inadequate meritocracy but because meritocracy is operating as designed the second is that meritocracy and snares even those who seem to succeed in a web of effort manipulation self-distortion that harms them and the third is that meritocracy does both of these things by focusing all our energies on things that are shallow and not worthy instead of on the human excellencies that we should in fact individually and collectively aspire to achieve let me begin with the first if i look around this room of oxford undergraduates 40% of you were privately educated in a country in which 7% of students have private educations 80% of you come from meaningful social and economic privilege as we heard a moment ago at my university yale there are more students from the top 1% of the income distribution than from the entire bottom half now my university's admissions process is corrupt and failures of meritocracy might explain it but oxford's is not corrupt you can't buy a place here there is no meaningful legacy preference and yet nevertheless you're all rich and you all come from privileged backgrounds or almost all now why is that the reason is straightforward famous us baseball player once said "practice doesn't make perfect perfect practice makes perfect." meritocracy in fact is not as we just heard that advantage turns on effort and talent it turns on effort and talent and one more thing investment it turns on how much is invested in developing a child's talent using their own efforts and the investment that different kinds of children get in meritocratic societies is absolutely enormously different in the united states the richest private schools spend over $75,000 per pupil per year on educating their children and in a society in which public schools on average spend about $12,000 in this country the richest private schools spend over £30,000 a year educating their children these massive investments produce massive differences in childhood achievement not because of legacy admissions but because when you get trained you get good at things and the result therefore is that a meritocracy when it works as designed favors those whose parents are in a position best to invest in them who have the money who have the skills and who have the free energy and space to do so and believe me meritocrats give rich parents the ability to do so i'll get it in one second when michael young invented the term meritocracy the richest in england had only half the share of national income that they have today the richest 10% of earners made twice as much as the poorest 10% of earners today they make four times as much a graduate of this university will make 50% more in her first year out than a graduate of the university of york so meritocracy creates an inequality in which rich parents have the opportunity to spend all this money on their children which is why meritocratic children are also rich children that's the first point merritocracy excludes most of society from meaningful advantage second point it's not actually fun to have that much invested in you as a kid it's not easy you are poked and prodded and tested and subject to tutors and classes and extra help and schools and exams and you do this from the earliest age up until adulthood and then you come here and you work hard and then you get a job at mckenzie or goldman sachs and you work 80 hours a week and then you become parents and you live in fear that your children will lose the cast that you have acquired by working so hard and so as parents you do two jobs you squeeze into your children the same thing that was squeezed into you as you're working to try to make the money to enable you to do that it's not surprising that in england exam anxiety has now overtaken body image as the largest source of stress in wealthy children it's not surprising that in a study of a wealthy american private school 50% of children had moderate to severe clinical symptoms of depression and 75% had moderate to severe clinical symptoms of anxiety these are not easy lives to live you will be extremely wealthy wealthier than you can imagine wealthier than prior elites have been but you will not be well and your children will not be well and so even as meritocracy excludes everyone else it will ensnare those of us in this room who are fortunate but that doesn't mean that in human terms it serves our interests that's the second point third point meritocracy distorts what we value and how we value it to begin with meritocracy has to decide what merit is every meritocracy invents its own way the king dynasty in china had a particular kind of exam-based system based on classical learning and a certain form of arudition our meritocracy also has an exam-based system based on the tests you need to take to get into places like this and then a market-based system based on how much your labor is in demand in a market economy that's largely deregulated under neoliberalism now we all know we're good at exams but we also know there's all the difference in the world between being able to take a good test and actually understanding something and there's an even greater difference between test taking and wisdom an exam focused education distorts us on trying to learn to the test rather than try to understand the world around us or ourselves john dwey said that education is the process of coming to terms with your role in the world taking tests to get into university is not that process second of all meritocracy massively distorts how we think of ourselves and how we value ourselves merritocracy teaches that the elite deserves its advantages and the lived experience of the meritocrat precisely because it's so hard to be one is one that validates that teaching this is not a group of wastils or layabouts this is a group of extremely earnest hardworking serious people who have sacrificed a lot to get here and they've done it under an ideology that says when you sacrifice in this way that's the effort and you do really well at something that's the talent then you've earned it and you deserve it and so meritocracy creates an elite that is indifferent to the common good and that believes in its own entitlements which is very damaging for society and not so great for the elite either at the same time meritocracy tells the rest of society that it's their fault that they aren't in this room that if they'd been a little more talented if they'd been a little harder working if they'd been a little more virtuous if they'd had a little more merit then they would have been able to measure up they would have succeeded and so they are to blame for what is in fact a form of structural exclusion and so meritocracy makes the elite smug and leaves everyone else naked in their rejection and that's an extremely damaging place to be that explains why in your country and in my country those who are excluded by meritoc by meritocracy now have a lower life expectancy than they did three years ago let me be clear there has been no other time and place in human history in which absent war or massively fatal plague and covid is not that plague there's been a diminution in life expectancy for a large segment of the population the source is addiction the source is alcoholism the source is obesity the source is suicide these are internalized forms of self-hatred produced by what meritocracy says to the people whom it excludes just as neoliberalism and davos are internalized forms of conceit produced by what meritocracy says to the elite so once again meritocracy excludes most people from advantage it ens snares the rich in a web of effort and distortion and it distorts all of us individually and collectively making us value the wrong things in the wrong ways and for the wrong reasons which is as the motion says why there is no merit in meritocracy or why as i would say merit daniel marovit's dissection of meritocracy at the oxford union is not merely an academic exercise it's a stark exposure of a system that under the guise of fairness perpetuates deeply entrenched inequalities of black communities and the global colored majority this critique resonates with the harsh realities of systemic oppression historical marginalization and the ongoing struggle for equitable access to opportunity the merit that society touts is often a construct that ignores the uneven playing field created by centuries of disadvantage the initial assertion that meritocracy excludes most individuals from meaningful advantages is particularly damning for black and colored populations this exclusion is not a matter of individual failure but a systemic outcome the vestigages of colonialism slavery and discriminatory policies have created structural barriers that impede access to quality education economic resources and social networks the promise of upward mobility through merit is often a cruel illusion markov's argument that meritocracy undermines human excellence by promoting superficial achievements speaks directly to the cultural biases embedded within evaluative systems standardized tests often the gatekeepers to elite institutions are frequently designed with a euroentric worldview disadvantaging those from diverse cultural backgrounds the emphasis on wrote memorization and test taking skills neglects the rich tapestry of talents creativity and lived experiences that black and colored individuals bring to the table this leads to a narrow homogeneous definition of excellence that excludes and devalues diverse forms of intelligence and capability the stark disparity in resource allocation where meritocracy favors children with greater investment reveals the deep-seated inequality in educational systems in black and colored communities underfunded schools overcrowded classrooms and a lack of access to essential resources create a significant educational deficit the digital divide lack of access to quality early childhood education and the absence of robust mentorship programs further exacerbate this gap this lack of investment translates to a systemic disadvantage that perpetuates across generations the economic inequality perpetuated by a meritocracy is a critical factor in the continued marginalization of black and colored communities the ability of affluent families to invest in private education specialized tutoring and extracurricular activities creates a self-reinforcing cycle of privilege this cycle denies those from less privileged backgrounds the opportunity to compete on an equal footing reinforcing the racial wealth gap and limiting economic mobility the intense pressure of meritocracy with its emphasis on high stakes testing and intense competition exacts a heavy toll on the mental health and well-being of black and colored youth the burden of overcoming systemic barriers coupled with the pressure to succeed in a system that often devalues their cultural identity can lead to heightened stress anxiety and depression the internalization of societal biases and the constant need to prove their worth can create a sense of alienation and self-doubt mark of its observation that meritocracy harms the well-being of even the wealthy underscores the systemic nature of the problem it highlights that the pursuit of meritocratic ideals creates a culture of relentless competition and hyperindividualism that undermines human connection and social cohesion this culture can lead to a sense of isolation and a lack of empathy even among those who seemingly benefit from the system the examentric approach of meritocracy which prioritizes test scores over genuine learning has a particularly damaging effect on black and colored students these students often face stereotype threat the fear of confirming negative stereotypes about their group which can negatively impact their performance the emphasis on standardized tests can also stifle creativity critical thinking and a love of learning replacing it with a focus on memorization and test taking strategies the elitism fostered by meritocracy and the resulting neglect of societal well-being has profound consequences for black and colored communities when the elite believe they have earned their status through merit they often become indifferent to the systemic inequalities that perpetuate poverty discrimination and social injustice this indifference can lead to a lack of political will to address these issues and a perpetuation of the status quo the false narrative that blames those excluded for their lack of success is a particularly insidious aspect of meritocracy it reinforces harmful stereotypes and absolves the system of its responsibility for creating and maintaining inequality this narrative can lead to internalized depression and self-lame among black and colored individuals undermining their sense of agency and reinforcing feelings of hopelessness the negative impact of meritocracy on life expectancy and societal values as highlighted by markovitz underscores the human cost of inequality factors such as addiction obesity and suicide which disproportionately affect black and colored communities are often linked to the stress to dismantle the meritocratic illusion we must challenge the dominant narratives that perpetuate inequality and create a more inclusive and equitable system this requires a fundamental shift in our understanding of merit moving away from narrow examentric metrics and embracing a holistic approach that values diverse talents skills and experiences ultimately a truly just and equitable society must reject the false promises of meritocracy and embrace a vision of success that is inclusive accessible and grounded in the principles of human dignity and social responsibility this requires a collective effort to challenge the status quo dismantle systems of oppression and create a society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive regardless of their background