Meritocracy is the problem, not the solution

Last March 12, Americans experienced a Casablanca moment when federal prosecutors charged dozens of wealthy parents with paying a consultant to help them bribe their children’s ways into elite universities such as Yale, Stanford, USC, and others.

I call it the Casablanca moment because the shockwaves rolling through the media response recalled the scene from the classic movie in which Claude Rains’ character Captain Renault, when the casino is raided, declares, “I’m shocked, shocked, that there’s gambling going on in this establishment!” Meanwhile, of course, the croupier approaches him with a wad of bills: “Your winnings, sir.” Renault is only somewhat discomfited.

Are we, too, really shocked at yet another revelation of the way class inequality continues to benefit the wealthy, providing special access to opportunity and only intensifying and widening the gulfs between classes?

Often these gulfs are referenced euphemistically in terms of “privilege” because Americans live largely in denial of the realities of class struggle in the United States.

Michelle Zacarias’ coverage in People’s World detailed in depth the way this effective program of “affirmative action for the rich” leveraged in the scandal reinforces, even deepens, the divisions and supporting idceologies of class society.

Media coverage by and large, however, in focusing on the corrupt behaviors of the privileged has evaded a necessary discussion of how class works in…