The left rebels against the speech of the « meritocracy » of the PP | Spain

He Íñigo Errejón today defenestratedhow given it was to explain politics with similes, he said that words are « Colinas to conquer in a war ». If so, in the « merit » hill The PP teaching. « As appropriated the Ideas of ‘Spain’ and of ‘Libertad’the right has also tried to mark the debate on work by raising the ‘merit’ flag and the ‘culture of effort’. And with results. Although without as much success as with Spain and freedom, in certain areas the idea has spread that the right protects the one who strives and the left to the vagus, ”explains Jaime Aja, a professor of sociology at the University of Córdoba, who has investigated the precariousness and speeches around him for the essay Low Cost lives (Cataract, 2021).

The PP usually anchor its speech in a term: « meritocracy. » What is it? It is an ideal: a society in which each one comes to where they take their effort and talent. The term, criticized for avoiding the importance of family and social origin both in academic performance and in professional achievement, is trunk in the PP, especially in Madrid, whose governments from Esperanza Aguirre until today have used it to defend its educational and fiscal model. Alberto Núñez Feijóo shares argumentary, who in 2022, being president of the Xunta, directly linked wealth with the effort: « I do not believe that those who have more should be pointed out on the street for having worked more. »

Already at the head of the PP, Feijóo has accused the government of going against « meritocracy » and « the culture of effort. » In December, in an act with businessmen, he said that it is important that « society will see that it is worth working », a perspective that in its opinion is being discouraged. Vox usually contrasses the « meritocracy » with the « subsidies » model attributed to the left. That is the dilemma of conservative forces: or a society that rewarding the effort puts to each one where it deserves, or one that by gratifying conformism equals below.

Given this deployment, what do progressive forces oppose? « For a long time, they have barely refuted. But there is a change in trend and they are paying more and more attention, » says economist Javier Soria, a researcher at the institute Opportunity Insights Harvard and co -director of the Think Tank FUTURE POLY LAB.

« It has always been a difficult issue for the left. On the one hand, if meritocracy criticizes it risks – it is an unfair, but real risk – to resemble the cartoon that their rivals make of it: vague, exploited …. on the other, it is difficult to accept it without legitimizing inequality, » adds the sociologist Jaime Aja, who believes that the left must « avoid the error made in the debate on the debate on freedom. » « Ridiculize the idea of ​​ayuso meritocracy, just like that of freedom, only serves to make the discussion revolve around that idea, » says the sociologist, who coincides with Soria in registering the hardening of opening requirements of private universities in an attempt by the government to question the idea of ​​ »meritocracy » that defends the PP and open step to an alternative narrative.

All the Executive’s speech on the measure converges in an idea: we must prevent the money from dad and mom weighing more than the student’s effort. While the president, Pedro Sánchez, has contrasted the « titles without guarantees » of the « educational beach bars » with the government’s commitment to the « social elevator », vice president María Jesús Montero has affirmed that the reform wants to prevent « the one who has money in the current account can study medicine with much less note » than a « working class » girl. In both cases, an alternative dilemma is raised to that of the PP and Vox: or a progressive society that rewards the talent of those who have less, or a conservative that suffocates it to shield inherited privileges. The confrontation is served.

Reform or deny « meritocracy »

At the beginning of March, in an act of the PSOE in Murcia, Sánchez charged those who cut public education to « defend, as the right says, meritocracy. » But that is not his usual speech. Neither the president, nor his ministers, nor the PSOE usually reject « meritocracy » in itselfbut the speech on the same of the PP, considering that it ignores the starting conditions. In December, in a presidential act, Sánchez said that the « meritocracy » is « fundamental », although to be real, « equal opportunities. » That is the most widespread position in socialist ranks. And in it this week has resulted in the Minister of Science, Diana Morant, when she accused the PP of attempting « against merit » with its « divestment » in the public university, without which a « true meritocracy » is impossible.

IU, more Madrid and we can share with the PSOE the defense of the « equal opportunities », but differ from the socialists by challenging the « meritocracy », which they see as a tricky concept. It is a « myth » that induces an « egalitarian illusion, » writes the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, in Politics and fiction (Atalaya, 2024). Or a way of « individualizing collective responsibilities, » according to IU. « If meritocracy seems like a story, votes, » he titled a mobilization campaign last year. The spokespersons of more Madrid usually mock the speeches of Ayuso saying that « meritocracy are the parents. » Vice President Yolanda Díaz, of Sumar Movement, has applauded « the accurate analysis » of the collective essay Inequality in Spain (Rag language, 2024), which includes a total amendment to « meritocracy. »

An idea with roots

On the academic plane, the « meritocratic » ideal has been refuted. And with data. In Spain, the circumstances outside the effort They explain up to 70% of inequalities, highlighting as causes the inheritance and education of parents, according to A job of economist Pedro Salas-Rjo, researcher at the International Institute of Inequality of London School of Economics. In Broken meritocracy from the beginninga thesis awarded by the European Consortium of Sociological Research, the now professor at the University of Florence Carlos Gil points to the Spanish case to the same conclusion as the political scientist Michael J. Sandel and economist Robert H. Frank for the American: under his appearance of commendable idea that guarantees a reward according to his effort, the “meritocracy” is A fiction that hides the true reasons of inequality.

All this does not remain political pull to the discourse of the « meritocracy », which according to the available evidence has greater roots in societies with high inequality and among those that suffer the most. This has been accredited by the Dutch sociologist Jonathan Mijs in studies published in Socio-Economic Reviewfrom Oxford, and in The Political Quarterly.

« The sectors that suffer the most inequality of opportunities » are precisely the most likely to believe the explanations that ignore the social causes of this disadvantage, explains Soria. A paradox? Not so much. This is the fruit in part that, the lower the starting point, the greater the dependence of the effort to ascend, which makes it more difficult to perceive the importance of other factors, he says. To this is added the ease with which the questioning of « meritocracy » is perceived as a « criticism of merit. » One reason is that the « meritocratic » discourse connects with a « common sense » that curdled during the decades, interrupted by the Great recessionin which the « social elevator » did work, explains the researcher.

In addition to education, Soria affirms that a rigorous speech about effort and achievement must address housing, « fundamental for youth », a sector of the population where he sees greater margin for the questioning of « meritocracy. » Not surprisingly, the three youngest groups are the most skeptical about this ideal, according to the CIS. There is also a bias by age in the vision of the respondents on the current opportunities compared to those enjoyed by the previous generations. The answers show greater pessimism in the younger cohorts, which – at the judgment of Soria – shows less confidence in the « social elevator », without which the « meritocracy » is hardly credible.

Matches in the « battle »

« The Spanish right is not meritocratic, it is corporatist, » he says Manuel EscuderoPresident of Avanza, the PSOE Ideas Laboratory, a party to which he considers « heir to the well -understood meritocratic tradition », which demands that the « social elevator » function and « the talent is recognized. » Escudero is convinced that the left has a margin in this debate because in Spain, unlike the USA, the individualistic discourse of the « has not prospered »Self Made Man« , According to which each » makes himself « and comes where he arrives without the origin and society painting anything.

From more Madrid, the sociologist Jorge Moruno, deputy in the assembly, regrets that the left has spent « decades » without fighting this « battle. » Although « little by little a proposal is introduced » that associates « effort and equality », the past abandonment has allowed the ideas of its adversarisos to peel, he says. Result? « The same sectors that, a priori, should be attracted to that criticism (to meritocracy), can be offended because the impression that the effort of their parents, theirs and the one who advise their children, » I don’t have time. Geographies of precariousness (Akal, 2018). The challenge, he affirms, is to claim equality « as a more just and effective way to value merit. »