Are there downsides to meritocracy?
The big challenge to the ostensible objectivity of "meritocracy" lies in the selection of the measuring sticks. The metrics by which you measure merit reflect values-based choices and biases. Additionally, peer ratings & reviews often play a big role in "meritocratic" decisions, and are therefore subject to group identity issues and tribalistic tendencies. That can get really problematic if your supposedly meritocratic organization is insufficiently diverse.It's a great-sounding principle, but runs into the inevitable issue that human beings are human beings in practice. You have to be wary of the underlying choices and the difference between when "meritocracy" is an aspirational ideal versus being a label used to veil attitudes that are anything but merit-based. My experience as a manager is that it is better to clearly identify both the metrics and values by which people will be evaluated, but also to be candid that there will be personal judgement and subjectivity involved. "Fairness" is the organizational value to work towards and getting to caught up in the concept of "merit" can lead you astray.
Is a theory in science backed up by facts?
Just because "theory" has a precise, scientific definition doesn't mean the common, layman's definition suddenly disappears or should be avoided. The author here was clearly using the latter meaning.
Why has Chinese Democratic Meritocracy System been working so well in China?
In my view, there are three main reasons that result in this situation:population--obviously, China as a country owning the largest population in the world, is unable to meet the needs of the people not just in terms of employment. It is common situation that a large number of fight for one opportunity of employment. The result is, people will try their best to be outstanding from the competition. educational system--China introduced science-humanities division system since 1979. So when we step into our high school, we will make a decision of being a liberal arts student or a science student. A large number of students become good professionals in certain field, but know little about other knowledge. I don't call it meritocracy, nor do I deny that many people would have more time to focus on one field. So maybe it is easier to become so-called elite.history--As the Qin and Han dynasties developed a meritocratic system in order to maintain power over a large, sprawling empire, it became necessary for the government to maintain a complex network of officials. Now it has been a preconceived notion of Chinese people, Chinese politicians is no exception.Hope this can be helpful for you!