Meritocracy makes solidarity impossible in current societies: Michael J. Sandel

Lilian Hernández Osorio

La Jornada newspaper
Friday, September 5, 2025, p. 11

On a global scale, governments speak of applying public policies so that all people have equal opportunities, which is false, because they not only depend on their own merit, but often have to do with the good luck of each and the family to which they belong, said the political philosopher and professor of the Faculty of Law of the Harvard University and Princess Prize of Asturias of Social Sciences 2018, Michael J. Sandel.

After dedicating years of study to the “tyranny of merit” and now explor The same opportunities, which is not really like that.

In a conversation at the Law Faculty of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Sandel said that “still perfect meritocracy makes us see the least fortunate down”, who at the same time create resentment and “that is why meritocracy makes solidarity impossible in current societies,” he warned.

By reflecting students with a series of questions about what they think of the common good and success, the writer about morality in politics and liberalism stressed that meritocracy usually causes “amnesia”, because it makes it forget the good luck that has been had along the way “and drives us to forget those who have helped us to have these successes, as friends, teachers and even family and even family and communities in which we live”.

The more we believe that we are self -sufficient, he pointed out, the more difficult it will be “to see ourselves in another person’s shoes.” On the other hand, those who retain gratitude for the good luck and support they have achieved are more likely to be more empathic with other people. Thus, he concluded that humility is important to grow as people. It is necessary to cultivate it as a civic virtue for the common good, because it is the essence of gratitude, although it regretted that it is not present in today’s society.