The Cost of Meritocracy With Michael Sandel

Were the foundations of American governance engineered to protect the wealthy? Harvard Law professor Michael Klarman argues that the US Constitution was actually a counter-revolutionary coup to constrain democracy rather than protect it. This episode explores how debt, taxes, and ...  Show more

Is personal finance rigged against ordinary people? Economists John Campbell and Tarun Ramadorai argue the system rewards the wealthy and financially savvy at the expense of everyone else. Their book Fixed points to a troubling pattern: the fees you avoid by never overdrafting, o ...  Show more

Hello! We often hear about the idea of meritocracy. But philosopher Michael Sandel thinks it isn’t such a good thing. His new book ’The Tyranny of Merit’ argues the rhetoric of meritocracy is fuelling polarisation and the rise of far right populism. We have a really thought-provo ...  Show more

Meritocracy has long been an article of faith in the modern Western world. Get an education, work hard and the rewards of success will be yours, regardless of class, privilege or wealth. But recently meritocracy has come under attack, with the charge led by Michael Sandel, the Ha ...  Show more

Sam Harris speaks with Michael Sandel about the problem with meritocracy. They discuss the dark side of the concept of merit, the pernicious myth of the self-made man, the moral significance of luck, the backlash against “elites” and expertise, how we value human excellence, the ...  Show more

Michael J. Sandel is an American political philosopher, and Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School. His public lectures have been viewed by tens of millions of people around the world, including in China, where Sandel was named the "most influential fo ...