"Now’s a good time for both sides to sit down for a very serious talk, with The Tyranny of Merit required reading for all."
—Arlie Hoschschild, New York Times
"One of the most famous public intellectuals in the English-speaking world . . . The Tyranny of Merit is Sandel’s response to Brexit and the election of Donald Trump . . . Sandel draws on a vocabulary that challenges liberal notions of autonomy in a way that has been unfashionable for decades. Words such as “dependency”, “indebtedness”, “mystery”, “humility” and “luck” recur in his book."
—Julian Coman, The Guardian
“Are the winners of globalization justified in the belief that they have earned and therefore deserve their success?” asks the philosopher Michael Sandel in his penetrating book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good . . . Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 represented a full-blooded rebuke of that idea. Now that Joe Biden has won his restoration candidacy, where do we go from here? Should we rebuild the system the way we left it? Sandel’s book should be required reading for anyone interested in rebuilding our broken nation."
—Chang Che, Los Angeles Review of Books
"[An] engaging and timely critique . . . that will help us to heal our divided societies."
—Matthew Goodwin, The Times (London)
"A rich, incisive analysis of how the meritocratic ideal contributes to contemporary political crisis."
—Publisher's Weekly
"The Tyranny of Merit is infused with moral urgency, elegantly written and cogently argued, with a core conclusion both succinct and indisputable: meritocracy does not counter inequality, it justifies it."
—Brian Bethune, MacLean's
"The Tyranny of Merit is original, lively and no mere critique: unlike many others who have written on the "sorting" of society into winners and losers, Sandel produces a persuasive argument about the kind of community we should seek . . . The Tyranny of Merit is an important work, and makes a profound point that our leaders would do well to understand."
—Nick Timothy, Daily Telegraph
"Sandel is the most important and influential living philosopher . . . [His] new book offers a profound critique of individualism, making the case for the move away from self to community, from 'my wants now' to 'the common good'."
—Paul Collier, The Times Literary Supplement
"Sandel offers a cogent, penetrating critique of meritocracy, which, he argues persuasively, has trammeled our sense of community and mutual respect...A stimulating examination of a divisive social and political problem."
—Kirkus
"Brilliant . . . Sandel’s critique is as compelling as his plea for the renewal of social bonds is powerful. Besides debunking a series of myths— that success is self-made, that humans are self-sufficient, that educational attainment matters more than the dignity of work—the book is a brave attack on technocracy as the foundation of a just social order."
—Adrian Pabst, Prospect
"Well argued, clear, and nicely timed."
—Simon Kuper, New Statesman
"Michael Sandel views politics as fundamentally a moral enterprise, and to “morally invigorate our public discourse” has been a principal goal of his writings from the beginning of his career in the early 1980s . . . Surveying the American scene again today, Sandel finds not only that procedural liberalism has failed to a disastrous extent—bringing the country almost to the verge of chaos and collapse—but that this failure was engineered by liberal politicians themselves, acting on the wildly erroneous assumption that by pursuing the goal of meritocracy, they were engaged in bringing about a more egalitarian economic order."
—Win McCormack, The New Republic
"This is a remarkable book about justice. In his unique and powerful moral voice, Michael Sandel digs at the roots of our divisions, dissects the causes of inequality, and dismantles the lazy orthodoxy of those on the left and the right. Accessible and profound, The Tyranny of Merit is a revelatory assessment of pervasive unfairness in our society, driven in part by a naïve and myopic reliance on the notion of merit. In a time of easy rhetoric and thoughtless tribalism, this provocative book is a must-read for anyone who still cares about the common good. You will catch yourself wondering, again and again, “Why have I never thought of it that way?” No good faith reader will come away from this book unchanged."
—Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Author of Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law
“Astute, insightful, and empathetic, Sandel exposes the cruelty at the heart of some of our most beloved myths about success. A must-read for anyone struggling to understand populist resentment, and why, for many Americans, the American Dream has come to feel more like a taunt than a promise. A crucial book for this moment."
—Tara Westover, author of Educated
“The Tyranny of Merit deftly exposes the flaws and fallacies of meritocratic philosophy. In lucid, illuminating prose, Sandel makes a compelling case for uprooting inequality and building a fairer society shaped by true principles of justice. A seminal work.”
—Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation
"The Tyranny of Merit is truly a great book. It is the rare book of political theory that will be widely accessible, make news, and provoke healthy debate — debate that will strengthen our democracy regardless of the side one takes. And it will resonate widely, even profoundly, about the situation we are all in."
—Elliot Gerson, Vice President of the Aspen Institute
2020-06-12
How pernicious assumptions about merit undermine democracy.
Harvard professor of political philosophy and host of BBC Radio’s “The Global Philosopher,” Sandel offers a cogent, penetrating critique of meritocracy, which, he argues persuasively, has trammeled our sense of community and mutual respect. Central to the meritocratic ethic, he writes, is “freedom—the ability to control my destiny by dint of hard work—and deservingness. If I am responsible for having accrued a handsome share of worldly goods—income and wealth, power and prestige—I must deserve them. Success is a sign of virtue. My affluence is my due.” However, the author asserts that many factors beyond one’s control—family status, quality of education, what skills or talents the market values—shape one’s access to wealth and prestige. “Even a fair meritocracy,” he adds, “one without cheating or bribery or special privileges for the wealthy, induces a mistaken impression—that we have made it on our own.” Sandel deplores the rhetoric—touted by politicians on the left and right—that “valorizes credentialism” by calling for workers to improve their lives by getting a college degree. Such rhetoric, he insists repeatedly, erodes the dignity of work, “undermines social recognition and esteem for those who lack the credentials the system rewards,” and leads to unfounded prejudice against those less educated. Loss of social esteem, he maintains, afflicts many aggrieved workers in contemporary America. Sandel’s proposals to undermine the tyranny of meritocracy include a lottery system for admission to highly selective colleges, after a diverse and qualified pool is established; and a commitment to creating spaces and places where “citizens from different walks of life encounter one another.” The idea of a competitive meritocracy, he writes, “is a hollow political project that reflects an impoverished conception of citizenship and freedom.” Sandel’s proposals for change are less convincing than his deeply considered analysis.
A stimulating examination of a divisive social and political problem.
