Disentangling meritocracy among the long-range upwardly mobile: the Chilean case

In a world of rising income and wealth inequalities, studying popular concern or consent about inequality, social mobility and meritocracy is increasingly relevant. However, while there is growing body of research on the explanations individuals provide for inequality in the US and Europe, there is a striking absence of studies addressing how people experiencing long-range upward mobility relate to meritocratic values in Latin American societies. In this article I draw upon on 60 life-course interviews to examine how long-range upwardly mobile individuals – those who best embody the meritocratic ideal – explain their success in Chilean society. Internationally well-known for the implementation of radical neoliberal reforms since the mid 1970s, Chile has both elevated levels of inequality and high rates of occupational mobility. Contrary to the individual-centred approach to meritocratic success dominant in the existing literature, my findings reveal a strong collective framing in respondents’ accounts and the acknowledgement of external factors shaping their upward trajectories. These findings bear important conceptual, methodological and geographical implications for the future study of social mobility and meritocratic values.