European concepts often fly from one country to another, at times repeating a policy solution, at other times losing their original meaning. We can see this today for the notion of meritocracy – extensively used by New Labour and then exported, 10 years later, to countries such as Italy. Indeed, contemporary criticism of the political and social system by the Italian centre-left is now built around the lack of meritocracy. But what can the Anglo-Saxon notion of meritocracy add to the Italian debate on inequality? It is here argued that the Italian debate relies on a limited and weak interpretation of meritocracy, which misses the later evolution of the meritocratic movement in the UK towards issues of redistribution.
Dall’intervento di Lorenza Antonucci su Inequalities
