seeking a more perfect meritocracy does not heal the inequalities of esteem that meritocracies produce. If anything, it makes them worse. Encouraging people to believe that their success (or failure) is their own doing generates hubris among the winners and humiliation among those left behind. It reenforces the image of social life as a competitive race, in which the winners deserve the rewards the market bestows on them and those who fall short deserve their fate as well.
