merit-based system
Qualification determines success
A merit-based system allocates rewards, positions, or opportunities based on demonstrated ability, achievement, or qualifications rather than factors like family connections, wealth, or social status.
The term appears frequently in debates about immigration policy, college admissions, and hiring practices: They advocate for a merit-based system that rewards hard work.
Critics argue that what counts as "merit" often reflects existing advantages.
- equal opportunityUnbiased chance for all
- level playing fieldEqual competitive conditions
- achievementAccomplished goal or deed
- competenceAdequate ability to function
- qualificationRequired skill or condition
talent · excellence · performance · earned · deserving · skill · ability · pull yourself up · promotion · advancement · glass ceiling · fair · competitive · standardized testing · test · score · rank · evaluation
- immigrationimmigrant, immigrants, visa, refugee, citizenship
- visastourist visa, work visa, student visa, business visa, travel visa
merit-based systemnepotism
Preferring kin in hiring
cronyism · patronage system · favoritism · spoils system · aristocracy
merit-based systemegalitarianism
Philosophy of universal equality
quota system · affirmative action · social safety net · universal basic income
merit-based systemrandom assignment
Allocation determined by chance
lottery system · seniority system · quota system · affirmative action
merit, based, system, base, merits, merited, meriting, meritorious, meritoriously