Meritocracy is a myth in Brazil

Meritocracy is a fairly popular concept among Brazilians. Six out of ten people in the country believe that workers should receive recognition only for their hard work and competence — and not based on their gender, ethnicity, or income.

In recent years, the concept of meritocracy has become a frequent talking point in right-wing politics when criticizing policies from the left, such as racial quotas in public universities. President Jair Bolsonaro talked about meritocracy in his inauguration speech, and constantly bashes the left for supposedly disfavoring hard-working citizens to benefit minorities. 

A cornerstone of neo-pentecostal Evangelical churches (which have become increasingly popular in Brazil) is the so-called “prosperity gospel” — that is, the belief that it is God’s will to bless His most loyal followers with wealth.

Between 2018 and 2021, the coaching market jumped 174 percent in Brazil, according to the International Coach Federation. Demand for mentoring sessions that teach how to develop an “abundance mentality” — according to which fortune favors those who have faith and work hard — keeps soaring.

Finding ways to move up the social ladder has become an even more critical issue with the pandemic, during which at least 10 million people dropped below the poverty line — roughly the entire population of Portugal. Google searches for “how to make money” increased suddenly in the country in March 2020, and have not gone down since. Other terms such as “how to get rich while being poor” and “how to be richer” are also trending. 

But becoming wealthy is an extremely distant and...