Deserving privilege: a decomposition of positional legitimation among Mexican elites

Abstract

This article explores privilege in contexts of inequality. Based on interviews, I analyse wealthy Mexicans’ moral justification of inequality and own position, to introduce a conceptual framework to analyse privilege in comparative elite studies and discuss its components in their local meaning. I find Mexican elites to ignore the baseline privilege they are born with, objectively the larger component, which includes their skin tone, ethnicity and wealth, to instead highlight the–objectively smaller–surplus privilege allegedly gained through work, borrowed merit and specialness. Hence, their solutions to tackle inequality focus on values and education, instead of structural changes.