英和和英

語源

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.

発音

• (英国発音) IPA: /mɛɹɪˈtɒkɹəsi/
• (米国発音) IPA: /mɛɹəˈtɑkɹəsi/

名詞

meritocracy (countable and uncountable, plural meritocracies)

1. Rule by merit and talent.

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

   • 2019 September 5, Sarah Leonard, “The Fall of the Meritocracy”, in The New Republic‎, archived from the original on 7 September 2019:

     In Markovits’s telling, the rise of the meritocracy is a story of unintended consequences.

   • 2019 September 9, Jennifer Schuessler, “The Meritocrat Who Wants to Unwind the Meritocracy”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 10 September 2019:

     Its faculty has also been a factory of books taking differing positions on the merits and demerits of meritocracy and elite education.

2. A type of society where wealth, income, and social status are assigned through competition.

使用する際の注意点

Though widely used as a term of praise, the term was originally coined as a satire, and a critique of awarding educational achievement.

派生語

派生した語

• → Dutch: meritocratie

参照