Understanding Adolescents Through a Critical Lens with Meritocracy as a Distributive Norm

From a social perspective, distributive norms function as foundational principles that shape the institutional structure of a society, while at the individual level, they represent evaluative standards grounded in moral beliefs and personal desires regarding the allocation of resources. This study explores the historical and ideological background through which meritocracy has become the dominant distributive norm in contemporary capitalist societies. Although meritocracy claims to ensure a fair distribution of resources and opportunities based on individual effort and ability, the study argues that it simultaneously legitimizes structural inequalities. Furthermore, it examines the psychological mechanisms through which adolescents internalize and reinforce meritocratic beliefs—namely, the need to maintain self-esteem, the justification of effort, and the intensification of class consciousness. These mechanisms are used to interpret adolescents’ critical attitudes toward perceived reverse discrimination, group-based assessments, and blind recruitment policies. The study also highlights the necessity of considering the contradictions of meritocracy in understanding the negative aspects of adolescents' social behaviors, such as their heightened sensitivity to costs and benefits, diminished sense of community, and instrumental approach to relationships. Lastly, it calls for greater social awareness and institutional support for adolescents who face difficulties in navigating relationships with others and forming a stable sense of self, emphasizing the need to reexamine the distributive rules embedded in social institutions and cultural norms as a response to widening social disparities.