In any field that is sufficiently nuanced, only the experts will be able to evaluate the ability of other experts. This is why both the free market and the government can not be truly meritocratic with regard to the arts and sciences. In the first case, the "elites" are selected and promoted based on their appeal to the people, and in the second case, they're selected based on their appeal to bureaucratic standards made or selected by people who aren't themselves experts. In neither case are the criteria for selection very well informed.



Don't take this as an endorsement for trade unions. I don't think very many, if any, organizations that live up to this standard exist or ever have existed. The closest thing that i can think of would be the university system, and that has its own problems and bureaucratic and ameritocratic tendencies.