Meritocratic Hubris

I deeply appreciate the term "meritocratic hubris" coined by Sandel in his book. The concept holds great value, and I think it deserves more attention in our community.

Meritocratic hubris has detrimental consequences:

1. Moral deservingness: The idea of meritocracy attributes deservingness to the successful, which can create a sense of entitlement and hubris among the winners. This can lead to a lack of empathy and understanding towards those who are less successful.
2. Justification for inequality: Meritocracy has become a justification for inequality, as those who are successful believe that they deserve their success and that those who are struggling are responsible for their own problems. This can lead to a lack of concern for the common good and a focus on individual achievement.
3. Psychological harm: Meritocracy can lead to psychological harm, inducing anxiety, perfectionism, and a sense of humiliation among the losers. This can create a toxic economy of esteem, where the winners take all they can and the losers feel marginalized.

Direct quotes from Michael J. Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?

1. "In an unequal society, those who land on top want to believe their success is morally justified. In a meritocratic society, this means the winners must believe they have earned their success through their own talent and hard work."
2. "As the meritocracy intensifies, the striving so absorbs us that our indebtedness recedes from view. In this way, even a fair meritocracy, one without cheating or bribery or special privileges for the wealthy, induces a mistaken impression—that we have made it on our own."
3. "This is a heavy burden for young people to bear. It is also corrosive of civic sensibilities. For the more we think of ourselves as self-made and self-sufficient, the harder it is to learn gratitude and humility. And without these sentiments, it is hard to care for the common good."
4. "The notion that the system rewards talent and hard work encourages the winners to consider their success their own doing, a measure of their virtue—and to look down upon those less fortunate than themselves."
5. "Meritocratic hubris reflects the tendency of winners to inhale too deeply of their success, to forget the luck and good fortune that helped them on their way. It is the smug conviction of those who land on top that they deserve their fate, and that those on the bottom deserve theirs, too. This attitude is the moral companion of technocratic politics."
6. "The fortunate [person] is seldom satisfied with the fact of being fortunate... He wants to be convinced that he 'deserves' it, and above all, that he deserves it in comparison with others."