These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favour of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the promise that "you can make it if you try". And the consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fuelled populist protest, with the triumph of Brexit and election of Donald Trump.
Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the polarized politics of our time, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalisation and rising inequality. Sandel highlights the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility, and more hospitable to a politics of the common good.
##我在豆瓣上标注这本书 想起一个标题梗 The Tyranny of Douban,懂么,懂了就明白这本书想说明什么了。
评分##听了一个小时 Michael Sanders 的 podcast,只能说,这个问题简直就是针对中国父母来的吧。可惜那些能听得进这些意见的人,估计也不会搞什么起跑线 to begin with..
评分##“even if a meritocracy were fair, it would not be a good society. It would generate hubris and anxiety among the winners and humiliation and resentment among the losers” 真·猛男落泪。
评分##虎头蛇尾,meritocracy的渊源流变讲得不错,最后的建议想当然了。税制设计和价值认同是个实证问题,定量分析要跟上。
评分##引言写于COVID当下,这一年社会日益严重的分裂也应证了书里的观点。非常周到的从新教和资本主义起源,论述到近代资本化(甚至可以直接点说是公司制度和华尔街文化)带来的更露骨的精英理念的世袭和演变,最后导致社会以功绩和金钱利润作为衡量人的效用的决定因素,以及这背后一系列“世袭”精英制管理的上升通道。当我们说着“人类命运共同体”时,首先应该放弃使用“站在历史正确的一边”这种说辞,既然是共同体,那就都是一边的。
评分给我带来非常多思考的一本书,书写上逻辑严谨,层层递进非常舒服。重设了我很多概念的先验认知并联系起来,比如meritocracy之于当下的popularism,polarization和demoralization;比如technocracy加上globalization之于美国这四十年来日益加剧的inequality;比如liberal market,american dream之于meritocracy的必然,从而改变social welfare,(经济学上将近半世纪的著名争论!)而后又如何导向现在盛行的credentialism再进一步强化meritocracy与mobility的日益不可能。我想把它武断地推荐给每一个人,它不是一部全对的书,但会让人或社会变得更公正,更可能,我想。
评分##剖析了meritocracy的内在逻辑以及它如何导致了美国和世界范围内日渐兴起的民粹主义。不仅对政治经济这样的“大问题”颇具启发,也帮助我反思自己所受的成长和教育环境的影响—那些由“标签”与“比较”带来的纠结—以及自身不假思索的精英主义倾向。美中不足的是,作者对the tyranny of meritocracy所提出的实质解决方案相对有限,而且主要集中在精英大学录取制度的层面,而没有触及如何将其所倡导的公民美德教育普及给更广泛的社会阶层。不过,相信这本书是一个好的开始,希望在未来,不同阶级,身份的人都可以骄傲地说,“我们都有光明的前途。”
评分##Strive for "a broad equality of condition that enables those who do not achieve great wealth or prestigious positions to live lives of decency and dignity — developing and exercising their abilities in work that wins social esteem, sharing in a widely diffused culture of learning, and deliberating with their fellow citizens about public affairs."
评分##精彩,抽丝剥茧的批判了meritocracy。也分析了了民主党这十几年以来为什么跑偏了方向,失去传统阵营,成了精英们的代言人的。是故土的陌生人以来最让人信服的让我理解trumpism 的一本。但是政治哲学的分析用听书的方式吸收不好,很多地方思想一不集中就没听进去。还是得用看的。