Government institutions and cultural models: learning about civil service in the recruitment of a bureaucratic elite

Abstract This article examines the learning process of candidates in public selection exams for tax auditors in Brazil. Articulating cognitive theories of culture with anthropological studies of the state and its institutions, the author proposes the concept of a cultural model of civil service to explicate the standardized values and behaviours related to the bureaucratic-administrative practice that these institutions seek to instil in their agents. The aim is to show how the recruitment of a bureaucratic elite involves the incorporation of social representations concerning the role of state officials and the governmental legitimacy exercised in performing their function as auditors, even before the effective entry of these candidates into government institutions. The data is taken from ethnographic research conducted between 2015 and 2017 in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, which included participant observation in the classes of two preparatory courses for public selection exams.