Achievement and performance are judged on the basis of the needs, priorities, and goals of the system. Different social positions that are differentially valued have to be filled. In order to motivate and to allocate all of the positions with a minimum of friction, differential rewards and gratifications must be given, thus leading to social inequality. The relative size of the reward is related to the functional importance of the role or social position for society and the relative scarcity of qualified personnel to fill it. Inequality is necessary in order to fill the differential occupational and other positions in a society.
Psychologists also argue for the virtues of inequality.
The notion of intelligent people rising to the top and transmitting their mental abilities to their children, with the consequent formation of a group of meritocratic elites, is central to the positions of Hernstein and Jensen. Jensen resurrects the view that there is a genetic racial basis for social and personal inequality. The most effective criticism of functional theory is to survey our recent record of leadership and power. Chomsky observed that wealth and power may go to the ruthless, the cunning, the avaricious, the self-seeking, and those who are willing to abandon principle for material gain. Major theorists in the area of race relations, all assume that the basic selfishness of human beings and their overriding desire to maximize their own gains are central to an understanding of human behavior.