Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221109067
V. Chen, T. B. Bland
We argue that the compelling critical perspective put forward by Michael Sandel in The Tyranny of Merit could benefit from the account of power that Cut Loose advanced in its earlier typology. First, the ways that principles of meritocracy serve the interests of particular social groups become clearer when we consider more fully the tensions that inherently exist between merit and other conceptions of the good. Second, the allure of these competing moral perspectives – above all, fraternal morality – helps us make sense of the turn toward nativist populism that we have seen in the United States and elsewhere. Amid the steady unraveling of religious and republican ties, a White working class has responded to its relative economic decline, in part, by seeking solace in ethnocentrism. Third, we argue that the morality of grace can offer an alternative source of existential meaning, which meritocracy – with its focus on contentless excellence – lacks, and which egalitarianism – with its materialist and secular viewpoint – often struggles to cultivate. Here, we turn to Sandel’s earlier book, What Money Can’t Buy, for inspiration, seeing grace as not just the absence of a meritocratic ethic of merciless competition, but a source of value, fulfillment, and connection in itself. We end our essay with a description of what such an economy and politics of grace might look like.
我们认为，迈克尔·桑德尔(Michael Sandel)在《功绩暴政》(the Tyranny of Merit)中提出的令人信服的批判视角，可以受益于《割断束缚》(Cut Loose)早期类型学中对权力的描述。首先，当我们更充分地考虑功绩与其他善的概念之间固有的紧张关系时，精英管理原则为特定社会群体的利益服务的方式就会变得更加清晰。其次，这些相互竞争的道德观——最重要的是兄弟般的道德观——的吸引力，有助于我们理解我们在美国和其他地方看到的向本土民粹主义的转变。随着宗教和共和党关系的不断解体，白人工人阶级对其相对经济衰退的反应，部分是在种族中心主义中寻求安慰。第三，我们认为，优雅的道德可以提供存在意义的另一种来源，这是专注于无内容的卓越的精英政治所缺乏的，也是具有唯物主义和世俗观点的平均主义经常难以培养的。在这里，我们从桑德尔的早期著作《金钱买不到什么》(What Money Can’t Buy)中寻找灵感，他认为优雅不仅是没有无情竞争的精英伦理，而且本身就是价值、满足和联系的源泉。我们在文章的最后描述了这样一种优雅的经济和政治可能是什么样子。
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Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221113990
Harry Brighouse
In The Tyranny of Merit, Michael Sandel argues that the American society is not meritocratic, that belief that it is causes various social harms, and that some of those harms –in particular, the costs to social solidarity – would be caused even if society actually were meritocratic. He also explores the way that the structure of higher education is implicated in the ‘ethos’ of meritocracy. This article explores just how the ethos of meritocracy might undermine solidarity, argues that the structural changes needed to achieve actual meritocracy would be benign, even though meritocracy itself is not very valuable, and identifies ways in which changes to the structure of public funding for higher education may inadvertently have undermined solidarity.
{"title":"The tyranny of meritocracy and elite higher education","authors":"Harry Brighouse","doi":"10.1177/14778785221113990","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785221113990","url":null,"abstract":"In The Tyranny of Merit, Michael Sandel argues that the American society is not meritocratic, that belief that it is causes various social harms, and that some of those harms –in particular, the costs to social solidarity – would be caused even if society actually were meritocratic. He also explores the way that the structure of higher education is implicated in the ‘ethos’ of meritocracy. This article explores just how the ethos of meritocracy might undermine solidarity, argues that the structural changes needed to achieve actual meritocracy would be benign, even though meritocracy itself is not very valuable, and identifies ways in which changes to the structure of public funding for higher education may inadvertently have undermined solidarity.","PeriodicalId":46679,"journal":{"name":"Theory and Research in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47176044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221113985
Eranda Jayawickreme, W. Fleeson
In a 2012 Theory and Research in Education article, Spiegel argued that intellectual humility and open-mindedness can mutually reinforce each other to produce good thinking and knowing. In this commentary, we build on this insight and discuss the likely importance of multiple intellectual virtues in producing good thinking. We argue that Spiegel’s discussion of the relations between different intellectual virtues suggests new directions for theoretical and empirical work clarifying which virtues work together to promote good thinking.
{"title":"How do intellectual virtues promote good thinking and knowing?","authors":"Eranda Jayawickreme, W. Fleeson","doi":"10.1177/14778785221113985","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785221113985","url":null,"abstract":"In a 2012 Theory and Research in Education article, Spiegel argued that intellectual humility and open-mindedness can mutually reinforce each other to produce good thinking and knowing. In this commentary, we build on this insight and discuss the likely importance of multiple intellectual virtues in producing good thinking. We argue that Spiegel’s discussion of the relations between different intellectual virtues suggests new directions for theoretical and empirical work clarifying which virtues work together to promote good thinking.","PeriodicalId":46679,"journal":{"name":"Theory and Research in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45939532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221106837
J. Mijs
My contribution to this special issue engages with Michael Sandel’s The Tyranny of Meritocracy and its significance to the academic conversation about meritocracy and its discontents. Specifically, I highlight Sandel’s diagnosis of the rise of populism and his proposed remedy for the ‘tyranny of merit’. First, building on Menno ter Braak’s writings on the rise of fascism, I explore the sources of ressentiment in contemporary societies as stemming not from disillusionment with meritocracy but from the broken promise of liberalism and democracy more generally. Second, I consider Sandel’s proposals to reform elite university admissions and to ‘recognize work’, explore their wider applicability, and reflect on their limitations to meaningfully change how success and failure is socially experienced and morally understood.
我对本期特刊的贡献涉及迈克尔·桑德尔的《精英政治的暴政》及其对精英政治及其不满的学术对话的意义。具体来说，我强调桑德尔对民粹主义兴起的诊断，以及他提出的对“功绩暴政”的补救措施。首先，在Menno ter Braak关于法西斯主义兴起的著作的基础上，我探索了当代社会中的压迫源，这些压迫源于对精英政治的幻灭，而不是对自由主义和民主的普遍承诺的破灭。其次，我考虑桑德尔的建议，即改革精英大学招生制度，“承认工作”，探索其更广泛的适用性，并反思其局限性，以有意义地改变社会经验和道德理解成功与失败的方式。
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Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221113620
Henry Lara-Steidel
Writing in 2011, Philip Kitcher worried in ‘Public knowledge and its enemies’ that flaws in the dissemination of public knowledge would lead from a state of widespread ignorance to active resistance against expertise and more. Today, we seem to be living in the world Kitcher predicted, where a wide range of facts ranging from the results of democratic processes to public health information are deemed ‘fake’ by a significant part of the public. By engaging with Kitcher’s piece, this article discusses Kitcher’s states of ignorance, their implications, and how we may start addressing them.
{"title":"‘Do your own research!’ Misinformation, ignorance, and social media","authors":"Henry Lara-Steidel","doi":"10.1177/14778785221113620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785221113620","url":null,"abstract":"Writing in 2011, Philip Kitcher worried in ‘Public knowledge and its enemies’ that flaws in the dissemination of public knowledge would lead from a state of widespread ignorance to active resistance against expertise and more. Today, we seem to be living in the world Kitcher predicted, where a wide range of facts ranging from the results of democratic processes to public health information are deemed ‘fake’ by a significant part of the public. By engaging with Kitcher’s piece, this article discusses Kitcher’s states of ignorance, their implications, and how we may start addressing them.","PeriodicalId":46679,"journal":{"name":"Theory and Research in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46938105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221113206
Laurens Maarten van Esch
certainly salient in a contemporary context, the question of the university’s role in advancing the public good is perennial. Thus, while they are topically specific, the cases in this volume generate themes that would be applicable across a wide range of ethical dilemmas in higher education. For example, the socially and economically ameliorative role of colleges and universities is raised in several cases, as are questions about the utility and scope of difficult knowledge. Certainly, readers will note specific absences flagged by the editors, including (a) international student recruitment and exploitation and (b) accessibility for disabled students. In addition to these important areas, future cases might consider institutional investment in – or divestment from – corporate relationships that many find controversial or abhorrent. They might also take up more direct questions surrounding affirmative action or the role of racial and wealth privilege in access to disability, mental health, and learning supports. Finally, I imagine Taylor and Floyd Kuntz would welcome further consideration of the unique challenges that the pandemic has created for colleges and universities. The list of possibilities is long. Ethics in Higher Education lays bare the immense societal influence of higher education, while also revealing the limits of colleges and universities as ameliorative institutions. This book provides students and practitioners alike with intellectual tools and pragmatic approaches to help navigate this complex ethical landscape and, especially for higher education practitioners, to weather the challenges of acute crises and enduring dilemmas.
{"title":"Book review: D.N. Rodowick, An Education in Judgment: Hannah Arendt and the Humanities","authors":"Laurens Maarten van Esch","doi":"10.1177/14778785221113206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785221113206","url":null,"abstract":"certainly salient in a contemporary context, the question of the university’s role in advancing the public good is perennial. Thus, while they are topically specific, the cases in this volume generate themes that would be applicable across a wide range of ethical dilemmas in higher education. For example, the socially and economically ameliorative role of colleges and universities is raised in several cases, as are questions about the utility and scope of difficult knowledge. Certainly, readers will note specific absences flagged by the editors, including (a) international student recruitment and exploitation and (b) accessibility for disabled students. In addition to these important areas, future cases might consider institutional investment in – or divestment from – corporate relationships that many find controversial or abhorrent. They might also take up more direct questions surrounding affirmative action or the role of racial and wealth privilege in access to disability, mental health, and learning supports. Finally, I imagine Taylor and Floyd Kuntz would welcome further consideration of the unique challenges that the pandemic has created for colleges and universities. The list of possibilities is long. Ethics in Higher Education lays bare the immense societal influence of higher education, while also revealing the limits of colleges and universities as ameliorative institutions. This book provides students and practitioners alike with intellectual tools and pragmatic approaches to help navigate this complex ethical landscape and, especially for higher education practitioners, to weather the challenges of acute crises and enduring dilemmas.","PeriodicalId":46679,"journal":{"name":"Theory and Research in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45944571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221113622
Michael J. Sandel
Michael Sandel replies to commentaries on his book The Tyranny of Merit, focusing on meritocracy and education, the role of merit and grace in economic discourse, and the resentment that fueled the populist backlash against elites.
迈克尔·桑德尔（Michael Sandel）回复了他在《功绩的暴政》（The Tyranny of Merit）一书中的评论，该书聚焦于精英政治和教育、功绩和恩典在经济话语中的作用，以及助长民粹主义者对精英的反弹的怨恨。
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Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/14778785221113205
Ashley Taylor
{"title":"Book review: Rebecca M. Taylor and Ashley Floyd Kuntz, eds., Ethics in Higher Education: Promoting Equity and Inclusion Through Case-Based Inquiry","authors":"Ashley Taylor","doi":"10.1177/14778785221113205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785221113205","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46679,"journal":{"name":"Theory and Research in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48807005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-29DOI: 10.1177/14778785221108844
M. Sardoč
The last few years have witnessed a resurgence of interest among both scholars and public intellectuals over issues associated with distributive justice and its gravitational orbit of concepts, including the idea of merit and the adjacent vision of a meritocratic society. Nevertheless, despite its centrality for conceptions of equality of opportunity, a merit-based allocation of advantaged social positions has been confronted by a range of objections. Michael Sandel’s book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? provides a nuanced examination of ‘the age of meritocracy’ and meritocratic rationality as its key characteristic. It dovetails an elaborated analysis of the troubled legacy of meritocracy with an in-depth elucidation of the various flaws and shortcomings it came to be associated with. This article aims to examine some of the distinguishing features of merit-based allocation of advantaged social positions and the main shortcomings this distributive mechanism has been associated with. The introductory section identifies the most distinctive characteristics of the merit-based allocation of advantaged social positions. The central section reconstructs some of the arguments advanced by Michael Sandel in his book The Tyranny of Merit (2020). The concluding section presents the motivational impulse for the book symposium on The Tyranny of Merit and the main issues arising out of the discussion between the commentators and Prof. Sandel.
{"title":"The trouble with merit","authors":"M. Sardoč","doi":"10.1177/14778785221108844","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785221108844","url":null,"abstract":"The last few years have witnessed a resurgence of interest among both scholars and public intellectuals over issues associated with distributive justice and its gravitational orbit of concepts, including the idea of merit and the adjacent vision of a meritocratic society. Nevertheless, despite its centrality for conceptions of equality of opportunity, a merit-based allocation of advantaged social positions has been confronted by a range of objections. Michael Sandel’s book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? provides a nuanced examination of ‘the age of meritocracy’ and meritocratic rationality as its key characteristic. It dovetails an elaborated analysis of the troubled legacy of meritocracy with an in-depth elucidation of the various flaws and shortcomings it came to be associated with. This article aims to examine some of the distinguishing features of merit-based allocation of advantaged social positions and the main shortcomings this distributive mechanism has been associated with. The introductory section identifies the most distinctive characteristics of the merit-based allocation of advantaged social positions. The central section reconstructs some of the arguments advanced by Michael Sandel in his book The Tyranny of Merit (2020). The concluding section presents the motivational impulse for the book symposium on The Tyranny of Merit and the main issues arising out of the discussion between the commentators and Prof. Sandel.","PeriodicalId":46679,"journal":{"name":"Theory and Research in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42922117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-15DOI: 10.1177/14778785221087018
Bill Merrifield
{"title":"Book review: The Transformative Classroom: Philosophical Foundations and Practical Applications, by Douglas W Yacek","authors":"Bill Merrifield","doi":"10.1177/14778785221087018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785221087018","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46679,"journal":{"name":"Theory and Research in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41410914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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