Who’s for Meritocracy? Individual and Contextual Variations in the Faith

This article reports on perceptions of meritocracy and support for education-based meritocracy in 26 countries. Using the International Social Survey Program Social Inequality III (1999) survey, we investigate the impact of education on perceptions and support, at both the individual and the country level. At the individual level, education strengthens support for education-based meritocracy but has less impact on perceptions of meritocracy. National indicators are also associated with perceived and preferred meritocracy. Perceived meritocracy is correlated with the expansion of the education system, while the support for education-based meritocracy is correlated with average returns to education. We also find that perceptions and preferences may be affected by such national characteristics as inequality and the average wealth.