Meritocracy is a political policy in which individuals based on the standardized tests are evaluated and given tasks. Various merits are used to make the best judgment. The college degree is a tool that is used worldwide for meritocratic decisions. Meritocracy must have power and authority so that it can be effective. Any country I the world should have a system in which its citizen are evaluated and given power and authority to perform various tasks. Class stratification is the way the economic and social status of people in the society or country is broken down to bring about an upper class, middle class and lower class. Meritocracy is effective when the people have high power, authority and prestige. This is depicted by the ability of the people to accumulate and use resources effectively (Hampton, 2017).
The stratification is based on the way the resources are shared and the amount that each person has. Social stratification arises from the subdivision of people into social units called the strata. The people in that social set-up so not have equal access to the resources because of the difference in the familial background, status, occupation and affluence. Inequality on the other hand is where the sharable resources are not distributed equally among the people (2015, cited in The Straits Times, 2017).In this essay however, the principles and policy of meritocracy will be addresses and how they are affected by the class stratification and inequality affects it. Meritocracy, which is a policy of the government, has to be the same for every citizen so that they have the same opportunity to be successful and for their skills to be invested wisely. The positive and negative impacts of meritocracy are addressed.
The main aim of inequality and social stratification is to enable the middle class to be more empowered to foster economic development. The development of the nation is based on the equal share of resources to all middle class citizens to increase their numbers and to propel the creation of wealth. Every country needs to be politically conscious when making key decisions to bring an end to inequality (Frank, 2016).
Class Stratification
Singapore has become a capitalist nation where people are more concerned in economical than before. Majority of citizens in Singapore fall in the middle class economy. This study has gone deeper to analyses all the aspects, values and the culture if the people in Singapore. The aspect of class structure, political affiliations, success, and the digital variations. Tan, an author has underscored the fact that Singapore is still undergoing change and many people are striving to achieve. He also brings out the advantages and challenges of the society. Tan, further suggests some of the solutions to these challenges. Max Weber has tried to explain the difference between the definition of class and the view of what a stratified society is. Tan further stresses on the need of the capitalists and the class inequality being harmonized to foster societal growth (Tan, 2015 pp. 82).
Tan identifies that the Singaporeans have put themselves into four classes. The classes include occupation, level of income, education and the type of housing. These are the major aspects of inequality and also portray the level of social stratification. When there is huge stratification and inequality in the country majority of the citizens will not be empowered in their daily undertakings. Stratification has both positive and negative impacts. These impacts are based on the ability of the citizens to enjoy social mobility from the lower to the middle and then to the upper class (Tan, 2015 pp. 12).
Positive impacts
Education
The impact of the social and class stratification has been highlighted in Singapore as being affected by education and also affects the education system. It also has an impact on the economic levels and economic competence of its citizens. According to the statistics in Singapore, a lot of people aged 25 years above and have achieved tertiary education account for 40% of the population. The education system has been skewed to accommodate the he number of the citizens who reach the tertiary level of education (Brown, 2017 pg.5). The earnings in the country were tied to the education level of the citizens. People who are highly learned and were fluent in English earned more than those who did not. Most people hence strived to learn English at the expense of their native language. These people who went the full education system have to invest a lot of money into it. The parents had to look for money through all means to cater for their children. Those who are employed can still get their education through part time study. The Singaporean society has put much emphasis on the education and this has resulted in the proliferation of the private and public sector (Wolch and Dear, 2013 pp. 400).
Those who took time and spent a lot of money in education have to be well compensated to motivate them. In Singapore, people who use a lot of money and spend more time in training are compensated well. This stratification has enabled Singapore to strengthen its education system as more people seek education with the aim of good remuneration. This has increased the skilled labor force and enabled people to spend more time in schools hence the growth of the education centres all over the country. The living conditions of the citizens, and hence the prestige that comes with stratification is realized. From the education two more classes of people arise. The governing class and the governed class. The governing class is one that holds leadership positions in the society and composed of the elites who make political and social decisions on behalf of the people. The governed class follows the legislations and decisions made by the governing class and include artisans and the entrepreneurs (Bartos and Wehr, 2002 pg. 230). The former class would be the top government officials and the latter include the business people. The role that one plays in the society s hence determined by his class in that society. This role is acquired through the level of education that one has attained and hence the economic status of an individual.
Therefore, education has become a cornerstone in the development in the society. The people who enjoy the high social classes in the society have continued to educate their children in a bid to maintain their high social standing. Hence the trust in the education system has continued to increase because with t most people have realized success, power and hence prestige and authority. Also from education comes security. The most educated members of the society are absorbed in the white-collar jobs while the blue-collar jobs are left for those with little or no education. The difference in the earnings and economic level determine the social classes of the citizens (Tan, 2015, pp.17-23). Most people hence work hard to acquire more education and improve their literacy levels. The security of an individual is through the insurance schemes. Hence, people who earn more are able to top up more funds to their schemes. The people therefore work harder to get more funds so that they can invest in their insurance schemes. The people who also are economically competent are able to purchase their own residential houses. This is made possible through their ability to save through their insurance schemes. Karl Max in his theory conflict theory states that the middle class bear the brunt of the ever demanding work environment (Bartos and Wehr, 2002 pg.230). The education sphere is such that people strive to acquire more education so that they can use less energy and get more rewards in the workplace.
Economic Impact
As has been stated above, education puts people in the different social classes based on the type of work they do. This has put forward the importance of social stratification. Social stratification has enabled people to purchase and cater for all their needs. This has further propelled the economic growth. From the stratification, various employment levels arise which makes it possible for the government to pay their bills. The tax levels of the employees are also based on their income. Those who earn more pay more taxes. This has hence enabled the government to collect revenue and taxes and use it for more economic advancements. This social hierarchy is important to ensure that all the sectors of production are taken care of from inputs throughputs and outputs (Tan, 2015, pp.17-23). The more skilled labor force works on more complicated and sensitive tasks whereas the unskilled labor force deals with those tasks that do not require technicalities. With the social stratification, more people who were initially employed were able to make strides and start their own business premises. This is a clear indication of continued economic progress.
Negative impacts of class stratification
Aging
An ageing population is based on the social stratification. In Singapore, the median age of the population has risen from 41 to 41.3 in the year 2017 (Toh, 2017). Due to the social classes, families who come from high socio-economic status are able to take care of their members including the young and the elderly. According to studies done, most women have continued to invest more in education. The impact of this is delayed marriages and the resultant late child births. This has led to a decrease in the number of children. This trend continues to such a point where the elderly will be more than the young population (Tan, 2015, pp.17-23).
The impact of an ageing population is an overload of the national resources and an influx of the foreign workforce. An elderly population is not active and productive. This makes them more dependent on the young generation. From the above, the elderly are more than the young generation. This is an indicator of poor economic times facing the country. Stratification has enabled the industries to acquire skilled workforce from outside. This is because the elderly and the young population in the country cannot meet the requirements of the local industries (Tan, 2015, pp.17-23).
Inequality
As discussed above, inequality arises when the local resources are not shared equally. Inequality can occur in vet many ways such as in education, workforce gender inequality, and in the income. From social stratification, classes do exist in the society where very few people are aid a lot of money and given more privileges, hence they enjoy more prestige and power. The rest are left in the lower class. In the education sector, there exists a lot of inequality. The people from the high social classes are able to take their children to good schools and pay very huge amount of money. Those from the lower socio-economic class are not able to take their children to good schools. They also sometimes do not have money to take them to school. Higher education has been used in many countries as a tool through which equality can be achieved. The college degree from any country is acceptable from all over the world. This promotes meritocracy as people from other nationalities can secure employment opportunities from other countries (Li and Heath, 2016 pp. 162-200).
In the economic front, there has continued to be a huge gap between the rich and the poor in the society. This inequality is evident in various ways including in the privileges that enjoy and the ability to take up leadership positions. Those who are in the middle class try their level best to prevent them from being poor and also they try amazing more wealth from them to move to the next social class. There is likely to occur inequalities in education due to the different social classes (Jarman, 2016 pg.102). Another sector in which inequality has become evident is through racism. Meritocracy is the major cause of racism as some races are preferred than others. Very clear cut policies need to be developed to ring an end to the racial based behavior. The strategy is not to bring an end to meritocracy but to come up with legislations such as ensuring the jobs are available for all equally or based on particular ratios (Li and Heath, 2016 pp. 162-200).
Conclusion
Meritocracy is a good initiative where proper legislations need to be made so that the country can progress. This principle is affected by factors such as class stratification and inequality. In class stratification, the society is placed in various social classes. These classes are slit based on the age, income level, education level and even religion. All these classes are interconnected and work together towards attaining the visions of the society (Michael, 2017). When these classes are in harmony and each class done its rightful part, economic and social progress will be realized. Although there are advantages of the social stratification such as continued and successful production, there are disadvantages. Such disadvantages can include aging and increased social gaps (Reay, 2018).
Countries which have implemented meritocracy have benefited from it. Some of the benefits include improved economic status and an access to a wide array of skilled labor force. These benefits have stirred the country to be more developed and able to fend for their citizens. The skilled labor force has stimulated industrial development in a country and provided more job opportunities to the people. The education system has been amended to incorporate other aspects of industrialization and need to educate the students on the benefits of meritocracy (Guinier, 2016).
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