They didn’t have the talent or drive to achieve the American Dream, so they’re out. But-and I’ll never forget this-meritocracy tends to make the “winners” feel arrogantly self-congratulatory, forgetful of how very many aspects of their success had nothing to do with their effort and it tends to make the “losers” feel, well, like that’s just what they are. The main argument was that meritocracy sounds good as a means of allocating certain sought-after goods in a society such as admission to elite colleges and access to high-paying and valorized professions. And it didn’t seem to me to solve the dilemma it kept tossing from hand to hand for hour after hour: If meritocracy isn’t so great, and aristocracy not so great either, then what?!īut I’m burying a really important lede: What Sandel did do was give me the best answer I’ve yet seen to a question I haven’t been able to answer since 2016-why did so many Americans vote for reality TV star Donald Trump?! This wasn’t the point of the book, more of a very important supporting argument. It was a bit long and a bit repetitive (though because I listened to the audio, read patiently and engagingly by the author, that actually worked out well). This book wasn’t quite as lean and refined as Justice it also didn’t deal with quite as important a topic (that would have been a tall order). He is the single most gifted guide of classroom discussion that I have ever seen (I not only read Justice I watched the WBUR Boston recordings of his class they were sterling). ![]() He also explains all this slowly and clearly. ![]() I loved Sandel’s book Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? His power is incisive analysis: he cuts to the Augustinian heart of divisive issues using classic philosophical tools. The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J.
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