privilege

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Privilege and Meritocracy Myth
What is meant by privilege?
Privilege is a concept used to refer to certain advantages or rights being available to a particular group of people or a specific person. This term is usually used in the context of inequality and mainly related to gender, sexual orientation, race, gender identity, religion, among others (McNamee et al. 4). An example could involve having access to higher education and urban housing. However, race, gender, and social class are the three most determinative factors of an individual’s overall level of privilege.
Do you believe it exists? Why or why not?
I believe that privilege exists. Each person is embedded in a matrix of contexts and categories, and as such, will be in some ways privileged while also disadvantaged in others. Most attributes of privilege are generally fairly visible, such as gender and race. However, others such as birth order and citizenship may not be visible. Other attributes such as social class are somewhat stable while others such as wealth, age, and religion may change over time. All in all, some of these attributes such as an individual’s level of education are partly determined by a person, while others such as race are utterly involuntary.
What is the myth of meritocracy?
The myth of meritocracy asserts merely that those people who are poor are in that status because they are lazy. Those who believe in this theory believe that such people deserve poverty and.

They are of the opinion that an individual’s status and wealth are determined through merit. Meritocracy is defined as the holding of power by a particular group of people based on one’s ability (McNamee et al. 12). By this definition, it can be deduced that meritocracy is thus determined on the basis of one’s skill, success, work ethic, among others. It asserts that gender; race or other discriminatory factors do not play any role in contributing to success.
Do you believe it exists? Why or why not?
I believe that the theory of meritocracy is only true to its definition in a perfect world and thus does not exist. If it were real, people of color then would not be given extra and undue benefits because of their racial ethnicity. If it were real, women would be hired not because of their level of attraction because of their skills and capability. All people would earn equal wages as well. Therefore, this theory is unfair and unrealistic.
Work Cited
McNamee, Stephen J., and Robert K. Miller. The meritocracy myth. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.