Meritocracy in the Fabianism of George Bernard Shaw

Abstract

The present work has a twofold objective: firstly, to underline the importance of George Bernard Shaw's political thought within the history of political doctrines and, secondly, to go beyond the study of Shawianism. Starting from these assumptions, this research, still in progress, intends to highlight a new aspect of the political thought of the Irish playwright through the critical study of one of his most famous works The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, published in 1928. In this work, long interpreted exclusively as a suffragist work – as we will see in the essay – Shaw's support for an "elitist socialism" of meritocratic type is clear. The author theorizes and explains in detail the socialist program that he relies on to solve the problems of the period thanks to the theory of redistribution of income, the only way, in his opinion, to bring out the "innate talents". Shaw defines these men as gentlemen with superior innate cognitive abilities not transmissible by heredity, who, driven by a vital energy, can contribute to raising society from mediocrity. Shaw also recalls Nietzsche's Superman, but with improved elements, hence the link with Fabian eugenics that theorizes the creation of a more efficient “human race”.

Keywords

• meritocracy
• elitist socialism
• eugenic
• fabianism
• income redistribution