meritocracy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Rule by merit and talent.

   As a small nation without natural resources, Singapore relies on education and meritocracy to develop its economy.

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.

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