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Why do you think Capitalism has meritocracy as a core component?
Capitalism is a system where capital needs to be converted into more capital via economic action (reinvestment) rather than just sat upon.
Capital will always find ways to grow, if there are laws - they will be lobbied against. Or those with main market share will work together to stabilise the market and squash competition.
Meritocracy is built in. The better product; the greater amount of production; the higher efficiency; is supposed to be what drives capitalism.
Every economic system claims to be able to deliver those goals.
But what you’re describing is more a general free-market economy than capitalism proper. The former determines how companies interact with consumers and each other; the later determines how power and profits are distributed within a company.
It's OK you don't like capitalism but the industrial revolution did happen...
I haven’t yet expressed an opinion on capitalism, except to say that the features you’ve mentioned have little to do with it.
But to answer your original question: capitalism stricto sensu is when the profits and decision-making power in a firm are vested in those who put up the original financial capital. It incentivizes financial risk-taking, which (depending on economic conditions) can be useful or destructive. But the only merits it rewards are the possession of pre-existing wealth, the willingness to take risks with it, and luck. Nepotism and cronyism serve its ends by providing a source of wealth for new capitalists, and an outlet for successful capitalists to convert their gains into social rewards.
And I disagree
Dude, wtf? Someone's put in effort in clarifying free market and capitalism for you and you just go on some tangent?
Lol, if you accept this as a definition of capitalism your are already cooked.
And it's quite valid for someone to level that same comment at you.
Built in to what? Make it cheaper, faster. The better product becomes a luxury.
Only in its adverts.
What truly drives capitalism is the need to get more capital to reinvest to get more capital.
The system doesn't, can't, intrinsically care about how it is done.
It's also telling that all your "merits" are of the commodity, not humans.
Tell me, how would you measure merit? Could it be linked to the quality of the product or service you produce? Just productivity alone? Is it time you spent working on something?
That's the thing, merit can be defined however we want be any value system.
One could define it as any of the things you said. I can define it as bringing happiness or health as easily as boosting profit, and if I wanted to facetiously make a point I could define it as strength or even "being closely related to previous leaders".
What is deemed as merit is itself a statement of what has highest value under that system.
Under Capitalism the merit that's rewarded, in my eyes, is the ability to make money.
I personally, would rather a system that places ability to support peace and raise quality of life as the merit that is rewarded.