Abstract
This article aims to reflect on how, in Brazil, the political and legal formulations about social and racial affirmative action in higher education, articulate and are articulated from different representations about the subjects and the places they occupy in the social structure. The starting point was a brief description of the legal provisions and policies implemented from the twentieth century on the topic. Then, we analyzed the literature addressing the social representations about the recent implementation of affirmative action. And finally, we discussed two opposing conceptions of affirmative action, Quotas Law and PIMESP. We pointed out that these measures respond to different ways of representing inequality, worthiness and academic excellence. It was also discussed the sufficiency of the traditional sense of worthiness, personal merit, to judge and determine who and how someone should join the public university.
Social Representations; Affimative Action; Merit; Mute Zone