According to Michael Sandel, professor of political philosophy at Harvard, meritocracy would widen inequalities and even threaten our democracies, by serving as breeding ground for populism.

For the guest of Europe 1, Monday evening, it should not therefore serve alone as a political model, but be accompanied by a revaluation of work and social diversity.

ANALYSIS

"Normally, merit is a good thing."

However, there is a gap between theory and practice, as Michael Sandel points out.

For the professor of political philosophy at Harvard University, models of democracy based on meritocracy have in fact widened the inequalities.

While he has just published

The tyranny of merit

with Albin Michel editions, the specialist affirms on Europe 1 Monday that the way in which we have "been governed in globalization for four decades" has led to deepening the division between "winners" and "losers", by making those who arrived "at the top" believe that their success is theirs alone and that the others "deserve their fate".

Deviance from meritocracy

For Michael Sandel, therefore, meritocracy is not the problem as such, but its "dark side": it leads "to a hubris among the victors, and to a demoralization, even a humiliation of those who are left at the edge. of the road".

We should therefore let go of "the belief and conviction of those who succeed that they deserve their successes" through their own efforts, and rather remember that "luck" counts, just like "the debt we owe. to those who make our success possible ".

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This belief in our own merit has led, says Michael Sandel, to "the corrosion of our sense of responsibility for everyone, within a society".

According to the professor, this is particularly evident in very selective universities, where there are more students today from the richest 1% of families than from the less well-off 50%.

Consequences that raise populism

Meritocracy is therefore not an answer to inequality.

On the other hand, it would make the bed of populism.

"One of the most important sources of the backlash of populism that we have seen with Trump and in many places in Europe is the situation of people who have not had a university education", who consider that "the educated elites regard them with contempt", supports the professor of political philosophy.

Indeed, the fact that political parties have highly valued degrees as the only way to "compete and win in the global economy" also means "that if you did not go to university, your failure is your fault ".

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However, while it is obviously necessary to encourage people to go to university, underlines Michael Sandel, "we are making a mistake if we assume, as a political project, that the best solution to this difference in social position lies only in the 'higher education'.

According to him, only a small fraction of the population can escape "from the bottom of the ladder by going to university by rising".

This is why we must also "deal with inequalities of entry, talk about the social consequences of inequality, such as the erosion of the dignity of work".

What solutions?

All this constitutes the first tracks for a new political project, according to Michael Sandel. Find places where people can mix, revalue work in the right way, especially those who are deserving, cashiers and cashiers, garbage collectors, nurses ... as we could see during the coronavirus crisis. "This point of social esteem and recognition of the dignity of everyone's work, even those who do not have a university degree, is at the heart of the solution", he explains, in order to allow "a new type of politics that could begin to deal with this polarization of society".

Thus, even in France, where the redistribution policy is important compared to that of the United States, this "is not enough", affirms the professor. "We must also pay attention to justice."