Established in the works of British sociologist Michael Young (1915-2002), published in 1958, under the title The Rise of Meritocracy, tackling the inequalities and injustices of the labor and institutional order to propose a futuristic United Kingdom that is projected on the basis of the intelligence and individual effort of its residents, thus configuring itself as a conjugation of the word ‘merit,’ given in the Latin merĭtum, understanding the idea of ‘appreciation’ or ‘reward’, related to meritus, acting as past participle of merēre, for ‘to deserve’, with roots in the Indo-European *s-mer-, for ‘to receive’, and the component -cracy, adopted from the Greek -kratia, interpreting itself as ‘power’ in the context of a system of government, detaching itself from krátos, referring to ‘force’, from the Indo-European *kar-, for ‘firm’ or ‘difficult’.

It is the proposal of a structure of social and governmental order whose positions are reserved for the best individuals in their respective functions, associated with the training and experience developed throughout their careers, as a practice promoted in general by the Right-wing parties, in line with the defense of an elite private education.

However, the announcement and decision of many governments to work with the most qualified professionals is easily verifiable, emphasizing that the President has the right to select or suggest the officials responsible for the main offices, and in many cases ends up revealing itself as a practice of alliances and exchange of favors between the public and private sectors.