Let&#x27;s say we strive for a meritocracy. What happens when merit is hard to distinguish from privilege? If we&#x27;re in the leading minority, it&#x27;s all too easy to ignore the effects of privilege.<p>That&#x27;s not to say merit doesn&#x27;t exist, it does, but meritocracy doesn&#x27;t really value merit, it favours a certain specific type of success, and implies that lacking that type of success is because of a lack of merit. It&#x27;s a subtle difference, but understanding this difference helps in seeing the downsides.