Declining Beliefs in Meritocracy? Changes in Americans’ Work Attitudes from Pre to Post COVID-19

Abstract

This research investigates the temporal changes and individual variabilities in general beliefs in meritocracy in the wake of one the worst social disruptions: the COVID-19 pandemic. Using two panels of the General Social Survey (GSS) from 2018 and 2022, we found that American beliefs in meritocracy experienced an appreciable decline in post- the COVID year of 2022 compared with its pre-COVID level in 2018. We further broke down our samples into six gender and racial intersectional groups and compared them in their respective levels of beliefs in meritocracy. All six intersectional groups experienced a decline in beliefs in meritocracy in 2022 compared with 2018. Cross-sectional comparisons reveal that women were more likely to believe in meritocracy than men. We discuss implications of our findings for future studies.