A Sociology of Merit?
Contemporary Meritocracy, Imaginaries and Discourses of Social Mobility
Abstract
This paper analyzes, based on the recent publication by Antonio Viñao Frago (2023), the notion of merit and its relationship with meritocratic imaginaries, placing particular emphasis on how this narrative has been utilized to legitimize structural inequalities in contemporary societies. It examines how education, understood as a primary space for socialization, operates under the discourse of merit, reinforcing the idea that success or failure is solely attributed to individual effort, without considering underlying socioeconomic barriers.
Starting from a historical perspective, the study explores the origins of meritocracy in the context of Protestant ethics and capitalist rationality, emphasizing how these values were internalized as social norms that justify the socioeconomic position of individuals. Subsequently, contemporary contributions that illustrate the fallacy of the social elevator are analyzed, particularly in contexts marked by high educational and urban segregation.
The study concludes that the objectification of effort as the central criterion of educational success not only perpetuates structural inequalities but also reinforces the perception that failure is a consequence of a lack of personal merit, thereby obscuring the systemic barriers that condition access to educational and labor resources. Ultimately, it questions the role of scientific discourse as a mechanism for legitimizing the meritocratic social order, suggesting that, far from promoting equity, it contributes to consolidating a system that naturalizes existing social hierarchies.
Downloads
Metrics
-
Abstract424
-
pdf (Español (España))126
References
Alonso, L. E., y Fernández Rodríguez, C. J. (2013). Los discursos del presente: Un análisis de los imaginarios sociales contemporáneos. Siglo XXI.
Althusser, L. (2024). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses: Notes towards an investigation. En New Critical Writings in Political Sociology (pp. 299-340). Routledge.
Barbalet, J. (2008). Weber, passion and profits. Cambridge University Press.
Bell, D. (1973). The coming of Post-Industrial Society: A venture in social forecasting. Basic books.
Bell, D. (2004). Las contradicciones culturales del capitalismo. Alianza.
Bills, D. B. (2019). The problem of meritocracy: the belief in achievement, credentials and justice. En Research Handbook on the Sociology of Education (pp. 88-105). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bourdieu, P. (1979). La distinción: Criterio y bases sociales del gusto. Taurus.
Bourdieu, P., y Passeron, J.-C. (1970). La reproducción. Elementos para una teoría del sistema de enseñanza. Laia.
Bowles, S., y Gintis, H. (1985). Instrucción escolar en la América capitalista: reforma educativa y las contradicciones de la vida económica. Siglo XXI.
Breen, R., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (1999). Class inequality and meritocracy: a critique of Saunders and an alternative analysis. The British Journal of Sociology, 50(1), 1-27.
Castoriadis, C. (1975). La institución imaginaria de la sociedad. Tusquets.
Chriss, J. J. (2019). Weber’s Protestant Ethic Thesis in Five Steps. Academicus International Scientific Journal, 20, 51-65.
Coleman, J. S. (1968). Equality of educational opportunity. Integrated Education, 6(5), 19-28.
Duarte, K. (2009). Sobre los que no son, aunque sean. Éxito como exclusión de jóvenes empobrecidos en contextos capitalistas. Última Década, 17(30), 11-39.
Dubet, F. (2006). La Escuela de las oportunidades: ¿Qué es una escuela Justa? Gedisa.
Enguita, M. F. (2016). El Informe Coleman: Una lección de sociología y de política. Revista de Sociología de la Educación-RASE, 9(1), 37-45.
García Ruiz, G., y Archevaleta Pintó, C. (2011). ¿Cuáles son las razones subyacentes al éxito educativo de Corea del Sur? Revista Española de Educación Comparada, 18, 203-224.
Goldthorpe, J. H. (2013). Social Class and the Differential School Attainment of Children. Oxford University Press.
Grau-Grau, M. (2022). La ilusión del mérito. Capital cultural y reproducción. Revista Española de Sociología, 31(3), a124.
Greenfield, L. (2001). The spirit of capitalism: Nationalism and economic growth. Harvard University Press.
Harvey, D. (2014). Diecisiete contradicciones y el fin del capitalismo. Traficantes de Sueños.
Jin, J., y Ball, S. J. (2019). Meritocracy, social mobility and a new form of class domination. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41(1), 64-79.
Kristol, I. (1970). «When virtue loses all her loveliness». Some reflections on capitalism and «the free society». The Public Interest, 26, 3-15.
Lüscher, K. (2002). Intergenerational ambivalence: Further steps in theory and research. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64(3), 585–594.
Markovits D. (2019). The meritocracy trap: How America’s foundational myth feeds inequality, dismantles the middle class, and devours the elite. Penguin Press.
Marks, G. N. (2010). Meritocracy, modernization and students’ occupational expectations: Cross-national evidence. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 28(3), 275-289.
Martín Criado, E. (2014). Mentiras, inconsistencias y ambivalencias. Teoría de la acción y análisis del discurso. Revista Internacional de Sociología, 72(1), 115-138.
Merton, R. K. (1980) [1946]. Ambivalencia sociológica y otros ensayos. Espasa Calpe.
Mijs, J. J. (2016). The unfulfillable promise of meritocracy: Three lessons and their implications for justice in education. Social Justice Research, 29, 14-34.
Moretti, R., & Contreras, J. (Eds.). (2021). Mérito y meritocracia: Paradojas y promesas incumplidas. Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado.
Offe, C. (2018). Contradictions of the welfare state. Routledge.
Oh, J. (2024). Meritocracy as an ideology for neoliberalism: A Korean case. Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, 41, 149-182.
Parsons, T. (1977). The evolution of societies. Prentice-Hall.
Piketty, T. (2021). Una breve historia de la igualdad. Ariel.
Putnam, R. D. (2015). Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Simon & Schuster.
Reay, D. (2020). The perils and penalties of meritocracy: Sanctioning inequalities and legitimating prejudice. The Political Quarterly, 91(2), 405-412.
Rehbein, B., y Souza, J. (2015). The incorporation of symbolic inequality. Transcience, 6(1), 20-32.
Romero Moñivas, J. (2016). Una aproximación teórica a la ambivalencia humana y sus implicaciones para la sociología. Empiria: Revista de Metodología de Ciencias Sociales, 33, 37-64.
Sandel, M. J. (2020). La tiranía del mérito: ¿qué ha sido del bien común? Debate.
Saunders, P. (1995). Might Britain be a meritocracy? Sociology, 29(1), 23-41.
Saunders, P. (2002). Reflections on the meritocracy debate in Britain: A response to Richard Breen and John Goldthorpe. British Journal of Sociology, 53(4), 559-574.
Souroujon, G (2021). Las trampas de la meritocracia: Un recorrido por los problemas más significativos que esconde el merecimiento. Revista de Estudios Politicos, 191, 59-80
Treiman, D. J. (1970). Industrialization and social stratification. En Social Stratification: Reserach and Theory for the 1970s (pp. 207-234). Bobbs-Merrill.
Vijay, D., & Nair, V. G. (2021). In the name of merit: Ethical violence and inequality at a business school. Journal of Business Ethics, 179(2), 315-337.
Viñao Frago, A. (2024). Meritocracia, igualdad, educación. Por una vuelta a la historia social de la educación. DM Editor.
Weber, M. (1992) [1904]. The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Routledge
Young, M. (1958). The Rise of the Meritocracy: 1870-2033. An Essay on Education and Equality. Thames & Hudson.
Zhang, T. (2024). The illusion of meritocracy. Social Science Information, 63(1), 114-128.
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Global Studies: Historical Analysis and Social Change
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
