Why has our society and politics become so polarized? A major reason is the economic advantages of globalization have been distributed unequally for a long time. Why has this inequality gone on without change? Michael Sandel, in The Tyranny of Merit, offers an explanation and a solution. He contends that a misplaced commitment to the meritocratic principle is to blame. The solution: the meritocratic principle must be replaced if we are to achieve a just society.
The meritocratic principle holds that the accumulation of income is morally and legally merited by talent and hard work. Those who succeed believe they have merited their success. Sandel maintains that meritocratic hubris leads them to regard with disdain the less successful. This hubris provokes resentment in the less successful who are at the bottom of the income scale. Hence, social polarization.
Sandel's solution is to reject the ideal of meritocracy and to reorient politics and the economy around a renewed sense of the common good. He contends that the relentless competitive race has eroded the feeling of community, unjustly denigrated losers, and has produced a cynical and arrogant elite.
This SDG will examine Sandel's arguments explaining the current social and political polarization, its causes and his solution. This SDG will examine two other competing theories--free market liberalism, advanced by the economist Friedrich Hayek; and welfare state liberalism, advanced by the philosopher John Rawls. Sandel concedes that both theories offer compelling objections against the meritocratic ideal, but they should be rejected because they allow for some inequalities. Is Sandel correct; is his theory superior to that of Hayek and Rawls?
Week one: Prologue, Introduction and Chapter 1 Winners and Losers (The social problem caused by the meritocratic ethic.)
Week two: Chapter 2 Great because Good ( A history of religious views of merit and rewards.)
Week three: Chapter 3 The Rhetoric of Rising. (A critique of the false promise of advancement by hard work and talent.)
Week four: Chapter 4 Credentialism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. ( A critique of competition for degrees JD, MBA, CPA, MD among elite colleges and the negative effect of the competition on students.)
Week five: Chapter 5 Success Ethics (The unjust mode of equating market success with human value and prestige.)
Week six: Chapter 6 The Sorting Machine (How the college admission process sustains meritocracy and how to dismantle it.)
Week seven: Chapter 7 Recognizing Work and Merit and the Common Good (The need and methods to achieve the dignity of labor.)
Core Book: Michael J. Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?, ( paperback by Picador Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2020)
The following to be provided:
Michael J. Sandel, How Meritocracy Fuels Inequality—PART I, American Journal of Law and Equality, 2021
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy John Rawls.
Wikipedia John Rawls
Beyond Blame, by Barbara Fried
Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. vs. President and Fellows of Harvard Coll., (1st Cir. 2022) (a decision by the federal First Circuit in a lawsuit brought by Chinese students who claim that Harvard does not enroll as many Chinese students as they have merited. The US Supreme Court held oral argument in November 2022 and may issues a decision before this SDG is over.
The Book of Job.