Overqualification is the gap between what a person can do and what they are permitted to do, weaponised to justify paying less while extracting more.
The concept of overqualification assumes a natural match between credentials and positions. In practice, it functions as a gatekeeping mechanism. Employers use it to reject candidates who threaten hierarchies, to justify lower pay for those who accept positions below their skill level, and to maintain social categories that determine who gets access to what.
For those positioned at the margins of economic and social hierarchies, overqualification becomes a permanent condition. The degree that should open doors becomes evidence of threat. The experience that should command respect becomes proof of desperation. The system routes the overqualified into positions where their capabilities are extracted without compensation or recognition.
Overqualification reveals the gap between meritocratic ideology and structural reality. If outcomes truly reflected ability, credentials would predict position. Instead, credentials are filtered through social categories that determine who is allowed to match their capability to opportunity.