ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two paradigms for conceptualizing political authority: privilege and meritocracy, working off of paradigms developed by Charles Tilly. The former take groups as the basic social unit while the latter focus on individuals. Research by social psychologists suggests that classifying persons in groups according to race, age, gender and class is a cognitively simple task. On the other hand conceiving persons as individuated is challenging. Not surprisingly, many nations, at one time or other, organized society into groups. Groups are always ranked, with more privileges granted to members of higher status groups. Both European and Chinese sources contain insightful descriptions of privilege-based systems showing that authority in such societies often was understood as “majesty.” This quality was often displayed as wealth combined with an appropriately superior attitude, and was actualized when lower-ranking persons internalized feelings of inferiority vis-à-vis superiors. The only viable alternative to such a system is meritocratic administration. This chapter examines the cognitive requirements, logical distinctions, and visual strategies characterizing meritocratic theory and practice in China. Ultimately the chapter argues that meritocracy is not the invention of any one culture but rather is structurally latent even in privilege societies.
