Meritocracy’s Disguise

Zachary Howlett’s book provides a new account of meritocracy in China. Unlike economists with their single-minded ideas of merits vis-à-vis individualized skills, Howlett deconstructs the concept to its social foundations. The book’s central subject is Gaokao, the national college entrance examination, where merits are constructed, tested, and publicly displayed. Howlett conceptualizes Gaokao as “fateful rites of passage” (pp. 10–18) that people feel as not only serving “to represent the universalistic judgment of the national community but also that of the ultimate transcendental power—fate” (p. 203). Fateful events are rituals; therefore, they are suited for ethnographic examination. Using such data from three sites in Fujian during 2011–2013, Howlett’s work is the latest attempt to understand the enormous Chinese system. This book comprises six chapters, analyzing various aspects of the fatefulness of Gaokao. Chapter One provides the contextualization. Chapter Two examines the high stakes involved and the consequences of the exam. Chapter Three focuses on the uncertainty of Gaokao. Chapter Four discusses the individual character of the test takers, while Chapter Five zooms in to the moment of the examination. Chapter Six provides a unique perspective on the religious and magical dimension of the fateful event.