Is Meritocracy Fair?

The question Is meritocracy fair? is raised by Professor Richard Plomin in his book Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are. Professor Plomin is one of the world’s leading genetic behaviouralists and his book summarises the lessons of half a century of research into “nature v nurture” His conclusion is that it is both, with nature playing around 50% and nurture the remainder.

However, a startling discovery is that the effects of nurture seem to be stochastic, there is no systematic cause, they seem due to chance. What this means is that the traits which distinguish and affect our life chances (such as intelligence) are largely a matter of luck. It is like a dice roll, some get double six and live long, happy and wealthy lives. Others double one and their lives are short and can be miserable.

Professor Plomin points out that this means that a meritocratic society rewards those who are lucky and punishes those who are not. He asks the question as to whether this is truly fair and whether society should, instead, seek to give more equal value to all, regardless of what their DNA and luck in life enables them to be. This is a profound question and one very appropriate for our times given the rapid changes we are experiencing in terms of society and demographics.