Elitism, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Elitism

The selection of leaders and members of the governing class based on their being among the best at something. Feinberg (1991) offers a defense of elitism, particularly as it applies to educational and vocational behavior. Elitist activities are those that are sufficiently valued (as intrinsically worthwhile) by society that no one questions the wisdom of restricting the performance of the activity within given settings to those individuals or groups that can do them best. For example, when selecting members of the Los Angeles Lakers or New Jersey Nets basketball teams (both in the 2002 finals of the National Basketball Association), their respective organizations simply hire players based on who is the best at their respective positions. We do not use quota-based selection of members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra based on gender or ethnic background. One can see how discussions of elitism applied to vocational psychology and organizational behavior inevitably bear on the discussion of affirmative action, quota-based, and seniority-based selection systems of any kind. Therefore, vocational psychological research on the effects of affirmative action (and other non-merit-based systems) may inform an understanding of the psychology of elitism at work. Likewise, because much of gifted education is embroiled in discussions of the justification for selecting students only because of academic performance or demonstrable abilities, elitism is a factor in related research for that as well.

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