Meritocracy’s trail of humiliation

Seeing an America riven by rancor and distrust, Harvard political philosopher Michael J. Sandel makes a case for humility as the key to renewed solidarity and shared sacrifice. To anyone who both cares about politics and admires clear-eyed philosophical exposition, this book will seem at once urgent and compelling. Further, since it touches on both secular and religious thought (though the latter less perceptively), this book all but cries out for further dialogue with the Christian tradition.

To begin, Sandel argues that one main cause of discord is that today “winners” think they deserve their advantage, and “losers” fall into self-doubt, humiliation, and resentment. America is steeped in this point of view, which Sandel calls meritocratic. Popular rhetoric says that your worthiness determines your level of success—your income, your status, your prospects overall; if you “work hard and play by the rules” you can go as far as your talents will take you.

But despite the luster of merit winners confer on themselves, they are neither as self-sufficient nor as self-made as they suppose. Successful people are indebted to parents, teachers, mentors, and friends. They have also benefited from luck—not least for their raw talent, and also for their given circumstances. Variances in family advantages, opportunities for education, and mobility give the lie to what Sandel calls “meritocratic hubris,” a boastful frame of mind that is both galling and self-deceived.