The Tyranny of Merit
by Michael J. Sandel · first published 2020
62% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A critique of meritocracy arguing that winners overstate their own doing, which breeds pressure, inadequacy and neglect of the common good. Suits readers questioning hard-work narratives, even if they disagree.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…Thomas Jefferson spoke of a natural aristocracy: "there is a natural Aristocracy among men; the grounds of which are Virtue and Talents". There are a few great books written about this recently: - The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? by Michael Sandel - The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite by Daniel Markovits Both…
on “Meritocracies Are Unfair – and That's the Point” ↗Also recommended: The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel
on “Is Meritocracy Making Everyone Miserable?” ↗I'd like to share the following: - "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari I believe it is a pretty common book amongst the HN crowd, no need to expand over it. - "The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?" by Michael Sandel Currently reading this book. I find this book amazing. The arguments are well thought and the language is easy. I think Sandel is one of the top…
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J. Sandel. Whether you agree with him or not, it gives you a lot to think about in terms of how to organise society in a way that helps people flourish. Also contains some deep insights into…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗To OP - In "The Tyranny of Merit", Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel argues against the idea of meritocracy, both true meritocracy and the current system of markets running rampant enriching some people massively at the expense of others,…
on “Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good fortune of rich friends?” ↗I think that you would find it interesting to read “The Tyranny of Merit” by Michael J. Sandel, as it discusses some of the underlying assumptions that your comment rests on. I'm not saying it's a refutation of what you're saying or anything like that, but I think you would…
on “Post-Apocalyptic Programming” ↗I really think you would get some interesting perspective out of reading “The Tyranny of Merit” by Michael J. Sandel, and I'm really curious how the ideas in the book would come together with your views. I would be happy to gift you the book if there was a way to do so.
on “Work, Work, Work – So a Few Can Be Rich” ↗…that allow us be special and unique but sometimes overlook that this also generates a lot of pressure and when you fail to stand out its easy to feal inadequate. I liked the book by Michael Sandel "The Tyranny of Merit" which goes somewhat in this direction.
on “Being OK with not being extraordinary (2021)” ↗There has been countless books discussing what causes this behaviour at length. The author is right, but runs a lot deeper than that obviously. Michael Sandel in his recent book[^1] called "The Tyranny of Merit" analyses the problem at length. It's a worthy read on a variety of topics around "merit" in our society, etc. Michael Sandel is a teacher of political philosophy at Harvard and one of the most well known…
on “Why do Ivy League students self-sabotage?” ↗I invite anyone proposing meritocracy as the solution for reducing discrimination to pick up a copy of The Tyranny of Merit : what's become of the common good? by Michael J. Sandel
on “Harvard Admissions Should Be More Meritocratic” ↗…personal attacks for my comment from one of those fanatics. Or even more commonly, like in this case, already successful people attributing their success to "hard work", which is extremely misleading. The Tyranny of Merit[1] talks about this in a lot more depth. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Merit-Whats-Become-Common/dp/...
on “Nvidia founder tells Stanford students their high expectations is a hindrance” ↗You should read "The Tyranny of Merit" by Michael Sandel (Harvard Professor), this problem is well studied at this point. The books point is that America has the idea that it's a meritocracy and the kids that end up succeeding got their out…
on “Scandal at America's top science fair” ↗> I really like unbiased merit based societies Just thought I would recommend some reading about this: "The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?" by Michael Sandel. Basically, think about what the longer-term, overarching effects on society would be in a perfectly-meritocratic society. It likely wouldn't be…
on “NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with executive orders” ↗…a record of their conversation) speaks to the "meritocracy" subject, mentioning Sandel's previous suggestions on usage of a lottery system as part of the admission process, first mentioned in his "The tyranny of merit" book. Highly recommend these two guys' work!
on “Random selection is necessary to create stable meritocratic institutions” ↗…away from this, it is to recognise that if meritocracy is based on achievement only, then we must be sure not to confuse it with effortocracy when it comes to its moral weight." Related reading: The Tyranny of Merit, by Michael Sandel (I was hoping the article would reference this, and it does.) [1] https://nonzerosum.games/effortocracy.html
on “Non-Zero-Sum Games” ↗