Merit
The History of a Founding Ideal from the American Revolution to the Twenty-First Century
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The idea that citizens’ advancement should depend exclusively on merit, on qualities that deserve reward rather than on bloodlines or wire-pulling, was among the Founding ideals of the American republic, Joseph F. Kett argues in this provocative and engaging book. Merit’s history, he contends, is best understood within the context of its often conflicting interaction with the other ideals of the Founding, equal rights and government by consent. Merit implies difference; equality suggests sameness. By sanctioning selection of those lower down by those higher up, merit potentially conflicts with the republican ideal that citizens consent to the decisions that affect their lives.
In Merit, which traces the history of its subject over three centuries, Kett asserts that Americans have reconciled merit with other principles of the Founding in ways that have shaped their distinctive approach to the grading of public schools, report cards, the forging of workplace hierarchies, employee rating forms, merit systems in government, the selection of officers for the armed forces, and standardized testing for intelligence, character, and vocational interests.
Today, the concept of merit is most commonly associated with measures by which it is quantified. Viewing their merit as an element of their selfhood—essential merit—members of the Founding generation showed no interest in quantitative measurements. Rather, they equated merit with an inner quality that accounted for their achievements and that was best measured by their reputations among their peers. In a republic based on equal rights and consent of the people, however, it became important to establish that merit-based rewards were within the grasp of ordinary Americans. In response, Americans embraced institutional merit in the form of procedures focused on drawing small distinctions among average people. They also developed a penchant for increasing the number of winners in competitions—what Kett calls "selection in" rather than "selection out"—in order to satisfy popular aspirations. Merit argues that values rooted in the Founding of the republic continue to influence Americans’ approach to controversies, including those surrounding affirmative action, which involve the ideal of merit.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kett's survey provides a thorough and engaging account of the long history of and many paradoxes surrounding the American ideal of merit. A professor of American history at the University of Virginia, Kett begins this study by distinguishing essential merit, an innate quality only made visible by one's success in public life, from institutional merit, a quality defined by institutional measures such as standardized exams and professional credentials. America has long held various anxieties regarding the difficulty of accurately measuring or recognizing merit, and Kett suggests that this struggle has long complicated America's ambitions regarding equal rights and rule by popular consent. He traces the demands of valuing merit from their roots in English and European governance through American political, academic, business, and professional institutions, demonstrating how our changing relationship to this ideal casts a telling light on the development of American identity and values. Dense but well written, Kett's rigorous approach is appropriate for scholars, and though he periodically veers into Byzantine descriptions, the book is an approachable resource for anyone interested in his topic.