Obstacles Of Becoming Elite Analysis

The Obstacles of Becoming Elite The elite within society are a small group of people who have access to many benefits that those ranked lower than them don’t have access to. This gives those at the top privilege, but this privilege is maintained by the institutions within society. Karen Ho introduces the idea of “smartness”, and how this label defines who is elite within society. She presents it as something that is created in order to maintain this eliteness. Joseph Stiglitz talks about how monopolization leads to hegemony within society to benefit those at the top, who are the elite of society. From CEOs to big businesses, the elite are able to manipulate who benefits from society. Cathy Davidson argues that the education system isn’t benefitting …show more content…
The elite are able to create the idea that by working hard to become smart or impressive will result in high compensation; but this is not always the case for those who can look smart based on appearance, or impressive due to successful manipulation of the system. The elite fabricate this idea of society being a meritocracy, but these merits aren’t always in line with hard work; it is corrupted by the prejudices present within society. Ho argues this point by stating that “the pinnacle of meritocracy is necessarily precarious: it is shot through with class, race, and gender hierarchies” (Ho 181). This signifies how merits can often be based on appearance rather than hard work. Those who don’t posses white male privilege may not be seen as impressive, and therefore won’t fit the criteria of being a part of the elite. The idea of merits not being based on hard work is reinforced by Stiglitz’s view of those who benefit from the meritocracy; he explains that “by looking at those at the top of the wealth distribution, we can get a feel for the nature of this aspect of America’s inequality. Few are inventors who have reshaped technology, or scientists who have reshaped our understandings of the laws of nature” (Stiglitz 402). This …show more content…
Because of this, they are able to manipulate the way society views those in power, by insinuating that the elite must have worked hard to get to that position. This is not always the case, and can lead to a corrupt form of meritocracy that encourages people to strive to attain a smartness or impressiveness that may not be reachable through hard work but only by already possessing status. For those without status sacrifices may have to be made to even have the potential of reaching the top. This hierarchy within society suppresses those who are not elite by requiring sacrifices to become elite, or making it impossible altogether for those who are underprivileged or deal with prejudice. This imbalance within society creates unjust obstacles for those trying to becoming successful, thus preventing equality within