meritocracy 的詞源

"智識精英統治"一詞由英國社會學家邁克爾·楊（Michael Young，1915-2002）於1958年創造，並用作他的著作《智識精英的崛起》的書名； 由 merit（優點）和 -cracy（統治）組成。相關詞彙： Meritocratic。

[Young's book] imagined an elite that got its position not from ancestry, but from test scores and effort. For him, meritocracy was a negative term; his spoof was a warning about the negative consequences of assigning social status based on formal educational qualifications, and showed how excluding from leadership anyone who couldn't jump through the educational hoops would create a new form of discrimination. And that's exactly what has happened. [Lani Guinier, interview, New York Times, Feb. 7, 2015]

【楊的書】描繪了一種精英階層，他們的地位不是由血統決定，而是由考試成績和努力決定。對他來說，智識精英統治是一個負面詞彙； 他的惡搞是對基於正式教育資格分配社會地位的負面後果的警告，並展示瞭如何排除任何不能通過教育障礙的領導人將會創造一種新形式的歧視。這正是發生的事情。【拉尼·吉尼爾，採訪，紐約時報，2015年2月7日】