The belief in meritocracy has been rising over the past few decades in developed countries. While many studies have focused on the belief in meritocracy, its distribution across groups and its effects, much less is known about how beliefs may change as individuals age and undergo major life transitions. Using linear growth models on three waves of panel data from a national youth survey in Singapore, we found that the major life transitions to adulthood – progressing through the education system (e.g., completing tertiary education), transiting from full-time studies to full-time work, getting married and becoming a parent – predicted only marginal intraindividual changes in meritocratic beliefs. Instead, linear growth models consistently pointed to strong starting beliefs amongst Singaporean youths which did not waver over time. These findings suggest that the belief in meritocracy is sticky once it is formed, which highlights the importance of how meritocratic discourse is framed in society.
BartramD. (2023). Does belief in meritocracy increase with inequality? A reconsideration for European countries. British Journal of Sociology, 74(5), 763–780. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13042
2.
BatruchA.JettenJ.Van de WerfhorstH.DarnonC.ButeraF. (2023). Belief in school meritocracy and the legitimization of social and income inequality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(5), 621–635. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221111017
3.
BaxterJ.BuchlerS.PeralesF.WesternM. (2015). A life-changing event: First births and men’s and women’s attitudes to mothering and gender divisions of labor. Social Forces, 93(3), 989–1014. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sou103
4.
BerteroA.FranetovicG.MijsJ. J. B. (2024). Inequality belief systems: What they look like, how to study them, and why they matter. Social Indicators Research, 174(2), 445–472. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03352-5
5.
BroćićM.MilesA. (2021). College and the “Culture War”: Assessing higher education’s influence on moral attitudes. American Sociological Review, 86(5), 856–895. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224211041094
BuccaM. (2016). Merit and blame in unequal societies: Explaining Latin Americans’ beliefs about wealth and poverty. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 44, 98–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2016.02.005
8.
BursteinP. (2003). The impact of public opinion on public policy: A review and an agenda. Political Research Quarterly, 56(1), 29–40.
ChancelL.PikettyT.SaezE.ZucmanG. (2022). World Inequality Report 2022. World Inequality Lab. wir2022.wid.world
11.
CurranP. J.ObeidatK.LosardoD. (2010). Twelve frequently asked questions about growth curve modeling. Journal of Cognition and Development, 11(2), 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248371003699969
12.
ElderG. H. (1985). Life Course Dynamics: Trajectories and Transitions, 1968-1980. Cornell University Press.
13.
FriedmanS.EllersgaardC.ReevesA.LarsenA. G. (2024). The Meaning of merit: Talent versus hard Work Legitimacy. Social Forces, 102(3), 861–879. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soad131
14.
GeorgeL. K. (1993). Sociological Perspectives on Life Transitions. Annual Review of Sociology, 19, 353–373.
15.
GeorgeL. K. (2009). Conceptualizing and Measuring Trajectories. In ElderG. H.Jr.GieleJ. Z. (Eds.), The Craft of Life Course Research (pp. 163–186). Guilford Press.
16.
HadaricsM.KendeA.SzabóZ. P. (2021). The relationship between income inequality and the palliative function of meritocracy belief: The Micro- and the macro-levels both Count. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 709080. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709080
17.
JostJ. T. (2019). A quarter century of system justification theory: Questions, answers, criticisms, and societal applications. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(2), 263–314. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12297
18.
KileyK.VaiseyS. (2020). Measuring stability and change in personal culture using panel data. American Sociological Review, 85(3), 477–506.
19.
KimE. H.CheungA. K. L. (2015). Women’s attitudes toward family formation and life stage transitions: A longitudinal study in Korea. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77(5), 1074–1090. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12222
20.
KuhnA. (2019). The subversive nature of inequality: Subjective inequality perceptions and attitudes to social inequality. European Journal of Political Economy, 59, 331–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2019.04.004
21.
LeeJ. S. (2014). An institutional framework for the study of the transition to adulthood. Youth & Society, 46(5), 706–730. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118x12450643
LimL. (2013). Meritocracy, elitism, and egalitarianism: A preliminary and provisional assessment of Singapore’s primary education review. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 33(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2012.711294
24.
LiW.WuJ.KouY. (2020). System justification enhances life satisfaction of high- and low-status people in China. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(5), 588–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619866182
25.
McCallL.BurkD.LaperrièreM.RichesonJ. A. (2017). Exposure to rising inequality shapes Americans’ opportunity beliefs and policy support. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(36), 9593–9598. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706253114
26.
McCoyS. K.WellmanJ. D.CosleyB.SaslowL.EpelE. (2013). Is the belief in meritocracy palliative for members of low status groups? Evidence for a benefit for self-esteem and physical health via perceived control: Meritocracy and self-esteem. European Journal of Social Psychology, 43(4), 307–318. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1959
27.
MewesJ.FairbrotherM.GiordanoG. N.WuC.WilkesR. (2021). Experiences matter: A longitudinal study of individual-level sources of declining social trust in the United States. Social Science Research, 95, 102537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102537
28.
MijsJ. J. B. (2018). Visualizing Belief in Meritocracy, 1930–2010. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 4, 237802311881180. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023118811805
29.
MijsJ. J. B. (2021). The paradox of inequality: Income inequality and belief in meritocracy go hand in hand. Socio-Economic Review, 19(1), 7–35. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwy051
30.
MijsJ. J. B. (2023). Learning about inequality in unequal America: How heterogeneity in college shapes students’ beliefs about meritocracy and racial discrimination. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 85, 100814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2023.100814
MorrisK.BühlmannF.SommetN.VandecasteeleL. (2022). The paradox of local inequality: Meritocratic beliefs in unequal localities. British Journal of Sociology, 73(2), 421–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12930
34.
NewmanB. J.JohnstonC. D.LownP. L. (2015). False Consciousness or class awareness? Local income inequality, personal economic position, and belief in American meritocracy.American Journal of Political Science, 59(2), 326–340. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12153
RindfussR. R. (1991). The young adult years: Diversity, structural change and fertility. Demography, 28(4), 493–512.
37.
RoccaA.NeaguG.TosunJ. (2022). School-work-transition of NEETS: A comparative analysis of European countries. Youth & Society, 54(2_suppl), 130S–152S. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118x211051761
38.
RoexK. L.HuijtsT.SiebenI. (2019). Attitudes towards income inequality: ‘Winners’ versus ‘losers’ of the perceived meritocracy. Acta Sociologica, 62(1), 47–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699317748340
39.
RoksaJ.VelezM. (2012). A late start: Delayed entry, life course transitions and bachelor’s degree completion. Social Forces, 90(3), 769–794. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sor018
40.
SandelM. J. (2020). The Tyranny of Merit: What’s become of the Common Good?Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
41.
SchoonI. (2015). Diverse Pathways: Rethinking the transition to adulthood. In AmatoP. R.BoothA.McHaleS. M.HookJ. V. (Eds.) Families in an era of increasing inequality (pp. 115–136). Springer International Publishing.
42.
ScottR. (2022). Does university make you more liberal? Estimating the within-individual effects of higher education on political values. Electoral Studies, 77, 102471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2022.102471
43.
SeamanS. R.WhiteI. R. (2013). Review of inverse probability weighting for dealing with missing data. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 22(3), 278–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/0962280210395740
SingerJ. D.WillettJ. B. (Eds.). (2003). Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and event occurence (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
46.
SoltF.HuY.HudsonK.SongJ.YuD. (2016). Economic inequality and belief in meritocracy in the United States. Research & Politics, 3(4), 205316801667210. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168016672101
47.
StaffJ.SchulenbergJ. E.MaslowskyJ.BachmanJ. G.O’MalleyP. M.MaggsJ. L.JohnstonL. D. (2010). Substance use changes and social role transitions: Proximal developmental effects on ongoing trajectories from late adolescence through early adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 22(4), 917–932. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579410000544
48.
TanK. P. (2008). Meritocracy and elitism in a global city: Ideological shifts in Singapore. International Political Science Review, 29(1), 7–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512107083445
TeoT.-A. (2019). Perceptions of meritocracy in Singapore: Inconsistencies, contestations and biases. Asian Studies Review, 43(2), 184–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2019.1587592
51.
VaiseyS.LizardoO. (2016). Cultural fragmentation or acquired dispositions? A new approach to accounting for patterns of cultural change. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 2, 2378023116669726. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023116669726
52.
van NoordJ.SpruytB.Van DroogenbroeckF.KuppensT. (2025). Caught between ideology and self-interest: Subjective social status and meritocratic beliefs shape whether people perceive, feel anger about, and want to change economic conflict. British Journal of Sociology, 76, 566–577. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13185
