Is Meritocracy Fair? A Qualitative Case Study of Admissions at the University of Oxford

Autor/in	Nahai, Rebekah N.
Titel	Is Meritocracy Fair? A Qualitative Case Study of Admissions at the University of Oxford
Quelle	In: Oxford Review of Education, 39 (2013) 5, S.681-701 (21 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0305-4985
DOI	10.1080/03054985.2013.843447
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; College Admission; Admission Criteria; Case Studies; Admissions Officers; School Surveys; Semi Structured Interviews; Political Attitudes; Democratic Values; Social Values; Enrollment Influences; Qualitative Research; Academic Achievement; Access to Education; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Hochschulzugang; Hochschulzulassung; Zulassung; Admission; Admission procedures; Zulassungsbedingung; Zulassungsverfahren; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Political attitude; Politische Einstellung; Sozialer Wert; Qualitative Forschung; Schulleistung; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Großbritannien
Abstract	This paper applies an original framework to disentangle the concept of meritocracy, and the relationship between meritocracy and fairness, in elite university admissions. In Britain, elite universities are regularly criticised for being unmeritocratic and by implication unfair, but stakeholders often lack a shared understanding of meritocracy and confound it with outcomes-based measures of fairness. Interview data from admissions tutors at the University of Oxford, viewed through the prism of Joseph Soares's ideological categories of organic conservatism, democratic elitism and social democratism, indicate that Oxford admissions are highly meritocratic. Thus the question arises: in a deeply unequal society, where academic achievement correlates with family income and social class, is meritocracy a satisfactory admissions framework? The conclusion outlines an alternative path of "outcomes-based meritocracy", as exhibited by the University of California, that makes significant inroads towards integrating social inclusion and academic excellence. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10