Politics of Class + Quality of Government Flashcards
What is Meritocracy?
- The meritocracy principle is about rewarding that and those which are good
- Two components of it can be:
a) “Equalizing opportunities not outcomes
b) “Allocating rewards on the basis of an individual’s merit, abilities, and achievements”
(Definition from Low, p. 48)
What is Absolute VS Relative Achievement?
Absolute Achievement:
- Refers to a measure of success based on fixed or objective standards, often a specific target or set goal.
- It focuses on achieving a particular outcome, regardless of the performance of others.
Relative Achievement:
- Refers to a measure of success compared to others or to a standard based on others’ performance.
- It focuses on how well someone performs in relation to others, often used in competitive contexts.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Absolute and Relative Achievement?
Absolute:
Advantages:
- Promotes personal effort and improvement, motivating individuals to focus on their own growth.
- Can be seen as a fair approach since everyone starts from a baseline of their own potential.
- Encourages self-reliance and accountability.
Disadvantages:
- Doesn’t account for unequal starting conditions, such as socioeconomic background, which can affect individual performance.
- May lead to a less collaborative environment where personal success is prioritized over collective achievement.
- High performers might be overly rewarded, leaving behind those who may not have the same opportunities to succeed.
Relative:
Advantages:
- Encourages competition and pushes individuals to outperform their peers.
- Creates a sense of comparative success, where individuals know exactly where they stand relative to others.
- Can drive innovation and improvements as people strive to outdo one another.
Disadvantages:
- Can foster unhealthy competition, leading to stress, anxiety, and a lack of collaboration.
- Individuals with fewer resources or opportunities might perform poorly in relative terms, even if they’ve made significant personal progress.
- Might perpetuate inequalities, as those with advantages are more likely to perform well relative to others.
What is Type VS Effort?
Type: focuses on the nature or quality of the achievement itself. It rewards specific talents, abilities, or outcomes based on predefined standards or categories. In a “type-based” meritocracy, some skills or accomplishments might be valued more highly than others
Effort: emphasizes the amount of work or perseverance an individual invests in achieving something, regardless of the end result. In an “effort-based” meritocracy, people are rewarded for the hard work they put into their tasks, even if their outcomes aren’t as extraordinary as others
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Type VS Effort?
Type:
Advantages:
- Encourages the development of high-demand skills or specialties that are deemed valuable in society.
- Rewards specific competencies or talents that contribute directly to societal progress, innovation, or organizational needs.
- Clear and standardized criteria for recognition, making it easier to measure success in specialized fields.
Disadvantages:
- May overlook individuals who work hard but don’t have the “right” skills or natural talents, potentially creating inequality in rewards.
- Can lead to overemphasis on certain fields or skills, neglecting others that are equally important but less recognized.
- Might discourage diversity and discourage people from pursuing careers or endeavors outside of the most valued types.
Effort:
Advantages:
- Recognizes hard work, perseverance, and dedication, which can motivate individuals to continue improving, regardless of their natural talents.
- Promotes equality of opportunity, as it values how much effort a person invests, not just their inherent abilities or starting position.
- Encourages a growth mindset, where success is seen as the result of continuous effort rather than fixed traits.
Disadvantages:
- May reward people who put in effort but fail to achieve significant outcomes, leading to inefficiency.
- Can create disparities if effort doesn’t lead to proportional results, especially in situations where people are competing with unequal resources or starting points.
- Might undervalue exceptional talent or contributions that are less visible or require less effort due to natural aptitude.
What is Wall Street VS Silicon Valley
Wall Street’s Meritocracy (Flawed & Unfair)
- Moral Hazard: Bankers took excessive risks knowing they would be bailed out (“too big to fail”).
- Unproductive Innovation: Financial products (e.g., securitization) increased systemic risk rather than benefiting society.
- Entitlement Mindset: Bankers justified bonuses from bailouts, reinforcing inequality and a winner-takes-all mentality.
- Legitimacy Crisis: Wealthy elites privatized profits while socializing losses, making the system seem unfair.
Silicon Valley’s Meritocracy (Fairer & More Just)
- Risk & Reward: Entrepreneurs bear full responsibility for success or failure—no bailouts.
- Market-Driven: Success is based on consumer demand, making it a truer form of meritocracy.
- Less Systemic Harm: Failures don’t threaten the entire economy like Wall Street’s crashes.
Key Takeaways
- Silicon Valley’s meritocracy is seen as superior because it follows one set of rules for all and doesn’t protect failures.
- Wall Street’s system creates inequality, protects the wealthy from consequences, and undermines public trust.
- Solution: Stronger regulations, transparency, and public accountability are needed to ensure a fair meritocracy.
What are the 3 classes and how are they different from one another?
- Privileged Classes
- Wealth & Power: Own property (land, businesses, factories), can lend money, work is optional.
- Unearned Privilege: Wealth comes from inheritance, not personal effort.
- Social & Economic Access: Exclusive education, elite networks, luxury consumption, global travel.
- Self-Deception & Hypocrisy: Believe they deserve their status, see others as “lazy” or “genetically defective.”
- Philanthropy as a Cover: Use charity to mask wealth accumulation.
- Maintain Power by Force: Willing to use violence to keep the current system intact. - Underprivileged Classes
- Majority of the Population: Own little to no property or savings.
- Limited Access: Low education levels, divided by national and social barriers.
- Struggles for Justice: Seeking fairness is seen as a “threat to stability.” - Middle Classes
- Hard-Earned Wealth: Own some property, but through work rather than inheritance.
- Self-Righteous Mindset: Feel morally superior to both the rich (who inherit) and the poor (who save nothing).
- False Sense of Mobility: Believe success is open to all but ignore that the system limits upward movement for most.
What are inequality traps and the recommended solutions to it?
Inequality Traps
- Wage Stagnation for low and middle income workers
- Income stratification and segregated communities
- Vicious cycle of class privilege, class prejudice, weak community ties and means-tested targeted programs
Recommended Solutions:
- to have universal programs: enhance solidarity and trust, not discretionary or stigmatizing, cheaper to administer
- Focus on cost-effectiveness over cost-containment.
What is the redistribution paradox?
Targeted Approach
* Cheaper
* “Means-testing”
* Only aid the most disadvantaged
Downsides:
* Less public support
* Less trust in government
* Few escape poverty
Universal Approach
* Costs more
* Less admin burden
* All get benefits – both the poor, middle class & rich
Upsides:
* More public support
* More trust in government
* More escape poverty
What is the most common problem in most societies? and what is the solution?
Bad governance:
- Corruption, Kickbacks, Bribes
- Patronage and Clientelism
- Nepotism, Cronyism, Discrimination, Interest Group capture agency
- Lack of legal guarantees to rights, property
- Messed up priorities
Solution: quality of government
- Definition: “Impartiality in the exercise of public authority”
- Focus is on procedures rather than content
- QOG creates social capital (generalized trust) rather than vice versa
- Rich countries: larger governments and more taxes than poor countries
what is the input and output side of the government?
Input Side of Government
- Access to public authority
- If political equality on input side = democracy → all citizens have an equal voice in government decision-making
Output Side of Government
- How public authority is exercised (laws and regulation, public policies and programs, government services, etc)
- If impartiality/political equality on the output side = Quality of Govt
- QoG = Nondiscrimination based on money, race, religion, sex/gender
- “To act impartially is to be unmoved by certain sorts of considerations. Such as special relationships and personal preferences. It is to treat people alike irrespective of personal relationships and personal likes and dislikes” (Rothstein, p. 13)
what are the different social spheres?
- The State: Scope is all, Is other-regarding
- The Family: Scope restricted, Is other-regarding
- The Market: Scope is all, Is self-regarding
- The Interest Organization: Scope restricted, Is self-regarding
what are the key aspects of quality of governance?
- Impartiality: A government must treat all citizens fairly, without bias or favoritism. This impartiality is essential for ensuring that public resources and services are distributed equitably.
- Rule of Law: A stable set of political rules and rights must be applied equally to all citizens. This ensures that laws are consistent and that individuals can trust the legal system to protect their rights.
- Low Corruption: A quality government should have minimal corruption. High levels of corruption undermine the legitimacy of the government and hinder its ability to serve the public effectively.
- Trust and Legitimacy: Citizens must trust that the government is acting in their best interests and is transparent in its actions. This trust reinforces the government’s legitimacy and encourages social cooperation.
- Effectiveness and Efficiency: A quality government delivers public goods and services that benefit society—such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure—in an efficient and effective manner.
- Accountability: A quality government is transparent and accountable to its citizens. Public administration experts often assess QoG to measure how well governments are performing in these areas.
what are the benefits of a high QoG?
- People live longer, have greater life satisfaction
- Employment is higher, fewer babies die
- Environment is better, fewer people in poverty
- Social trust in the government
how do you get to QoG?
- People operate on basis of reciprocity
- Impartiality: requires a general change in belief systems
- Must achieve ‘Collective Action’ by overcoming ‘Social Trap’
- Transforming a ‘particularistic’ (personalistic) political culture into a ‘universalistic’ (impersonal) one
- Through small steps and installing a few specific institutions a change can be induced from one equilibrium to the other
- Need to generate social trust
- Development of a Weberian civil service → aims to create a professional, impartial, and efficient public administration by focusing on merit, specialization, and adherence to rules. However, it may face challenges related to rigidity and lack of personal engagement.
- Have to change the logic of reciprocity using an indirect strategy that is both incremental and a big bang (may take about fifty years)
- A severe external threat can increase internal cooperation
