ABSTRACT
In a meritocracy, and in contrast to egalitarian and libertarian societies, jobs are distributed strictly on the basis of merit. This is what justice requires. This chapter is devoted to explaining why that is true, and to exploring the complexities of meritocratic hiring. In addition to giving people what they deserve, meritocratic hiring serves a number of socially important functions. First, it provides a fair framework within which citizens can develop plans-of-life and pursue scarce social goods. Second, it minimizes resentment in the labor market. Third, it ensures that citizens who have made mistakes in their past, like criminals, are not unjustly disadvantaged. Fourth, it best fulfills the fiduciary duties that holders of various offices have to their communities. The chapter concludes with an analysis of taste and statistical discrimination, and with a call for increased attention to merit in the political sphere.
