The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?

In the wake of the Second World War, it was relatively easy to support a family on a single income, even without the benefit of a college education. Today, that situation has changed drastically. Even in these circumstances, however, The Dignity of Work needs to be championed, for work is more than just a way to make a paycheck: “Work is both economic and cultural. It is a way of making a living and also a source of social recognition and esteem” (198). The change in attitudes towards work, and those who participate in certain industries, has resulted in what has sometimes been called “deaths of despair” (199)—evidence of excess mortality due to decreased life expectancy on account of depression and medical conditions caused or exacerbated by stress.

The populist shift toward resentment of the meritocratic system caught politicians and media pundits completely off-guard in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election: “[T]hey were oblivious to (and in some cases complicit in) the culture of elite condescension that had been building for some time” (202). While some considered more simplistic causes, such as racism or anger, the reasons for the general shift are not so simple, and should not be written off so easily.