The Tyranny of Merit

A critique of meritocracy, written after Brexit and Donald Trump's 2016 election and opening with the 2019 American college admissions scandal. Sandel argues that the ideal of a society where people rise as far as their talent and effort take them has a dark side. It encourages hubris among the winners, who believe they deserve their success, and humiliation among those left behind, who are told their failure is their own fault. He traces the idea of merit from Protestant debates about grace and works to the political 'rhetoric of rising' of recent decades, and examines credentialism: treating a university degree as the measure of a person's worth, which he regards as one of the last acceptable prejudices. As remedies he proposes admitting students by lottery among qualified applicants, and restoring the dignity of work through contributive justice and a renewed common good. Critics argue that he underrates the benefits of selection by merit and that his alternatives remain vague.

It explains much about the resentments behind recent populist politics and asks whether winners deserve what they get, a question every meritocratic society has to face.