Horatio Alger, contemporary author of Rags-to-Riches books which ended up shaping the story we tell ourselves about the American meritocracy, was not a rags-to-riches case himself.
His father was a Unitarian minister, and he was ultimately well off enough to attend Harvard university at the age of sixteen.
It is my opinion that those at the top of the social stratosphere like to tell this mythology over and over again; and it's a pretty myth. It gives those at the bottom hope. It makes those in the middle believe they can rise, if only they just work hard enough- and it means those at the top must have done something to deserve their status.
However, statistics will show with pain-staking clarity that this idea of meritocracy is nothing but a myth- when viewing IQ versus annual income, the results were all over the chart, without demonstrable indication that a higher IQ yields more profit. IQ is only one of the many ways in which we can measure merit- but one thing that has nothing to do with merit is who your parents are, and who you were -born- to.
It is possible to climb the social ladder, but again, statistics show the incredibly high probability that where you're born is where you're die, economically.
Meritocracy is a lie perpetuated by the benefactors of the belief system and supported by those who wish it were true.
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