The Myth of Meritocracy: Institutional Power, Race and Educational Inequality in Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s Ace of Spades

Abstract

This study examines the myth of meritocratic neutrality in Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s Ace of Spades, focusing on how an elite educational institution can reproduce racial and class inequality while presenting itself as a space of achievement, excellence and legitimate selection. The study addresses a gap in existing criticism, which has established the novel’s engagement with institutional racism, class privilege and white supremacy but has paid less attention to the relationship between meritocratic discourse and the institutional reproduction of inequality. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural capital and social reproduction, the study employs qualitative textual analysis and close reading of purposively selected passages concerning institutional values, academic recognition, class privilege, racialised experience, surveillance, discipline and institutional silence. The analysis demonstrates that Niveus Academy’s meritocratic structures do not operate independently of social inequality. Academic achievement is recognised within an institution characterised by unequal economic and cultural resources, while race shapes students’ access to belonging, security and institutional recognition. The study further shows that surveillance, disciplinary practices and the control of institutional information contribute to sustaining this unequal order. The novel therefore does not reject merit itself; rather, it exposes the institutional conditions under which merit is defined, recognised and rewarded. The study concludes that Ace of Spades offers a sustained critique of meritocratic neutrality by demonstrating how claims of excellence and fairness can coexist with, and help legitimise, the reproduction of racial and class inequality within elite education.