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What's the difference between meritocracy and technocracy?

Ezra

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I'm interested to know this. As far as I'm concerned, meritocracy is allowing individuals to succeed regardless of background; i.e. equal opportunities, and technocracy is rule of those who are capable and able. Surely in actuality, they amount to the same thing. In a meritocratic state, the government is made up of individuals who have worked to get there. Technocracy is the same. So what's the difference? Because they clearly aren't the same thing.
 

matmos

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A technocracy would be comprised of the most talented and skilled members of society, but this is arrived at solely through bureaucratic selection methods. It has meritocratic elements but is not a meritocracy.

A pure meritocracy (if such a thing exists) would be inherantly *fair* and therefore proclude bureaucratic systems, opting perhaps for a democratic solution.
 

Trovador

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Meritocracy isn't a form of government, it's just a principle from where the Technocracy gets it base, like "universal suffrage", "hereditariety" or "plutocracy" for other types of government. So, Technocracy would be a government like Monarchy or Republic, but using Meritocracy rather than other tools for "select the ones in power".

But, in pratice, Bananatrombone's idea is the basic actual diference: one of them is direct and for small groups; the other one uses a huge bureaucracy machine to select and survive.
 

Ezra

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How is technocracy more bureaucratic than more democratic forms of meritocracy?
 
S

Sniffles

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Technocracy is a form of government based upon meritocracy.

A much better question to ask is what's the difference between meritocracy and mediocrity. The former very often breeds the latter.
 

Ezra

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There will always be lazy people, so you'll always get a job if you try.
 
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