Merit Exists, and So Does Inequality

Two books by celebrated scholars agree on the relationship between merit and inequality but come to wildly divergent conclusions. Journalist Adrian Wooldridge argues that meritocracy is fundamental to democratic civilization and that meritocratic systems must be expanded. Geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden argues that much of what we view as meritocratic achievement is unearned, determined largely by the “genetic lottery,” so meritocratic systems of status distribution must be replaced.