 Education alone, however, does not constitute a complete system, as meritocracy must automatically confer power and authority, which a degree does not accomplish independently.Although the concept has existed for centuries, the term "meritocracy" is relatively new.It was used pejoratively by British politician and sociologist Michael Dunlop Young in his 1958 satirical essay "The Rise of the Meritocracy", which pictured the United Kingdom under the rule of a government favouring intelligence and aptitude (merit) above all else, being the combination of the root of Latin origin "merit" (from "mereō" meaning "earn") and the Ancient Greek suffix "-cracy" (meaning "power", "rule").