The Tyranny of Merit — Deep Dive | Meritocracy and the Loss of the Common Good

Crisis in Perception · Dec 23, 2025 · 33m

This episode of Crisis in Perception explores The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J. Sandel, a philosophical critique of how meritocracy reshapes education, work, and democratic life.

Rather than producing fairness, meritocracy often creates elite hubris and moralized failure, turning success into a sign of worth and failure into humiliation. This Deep Dive examines how education became a moral sorting system—and why resentment is a predictable outcome.

Instead of assigning blame, the episode maps the systems, incentives, and narratives that produce these results.

▶ 📺 Watch the full video Deep…