Markets, merit and the dignity of labour

Robert Sugden

International Review of Economics, 2022, vol. 69, issue 3, No 1, 323-338

Abstract: Abstract In The Tyranny of Merit, Sandel recasts the discontent expressed in populism as a rejection of market morality and as an inarticulate plea for the restoration of civic virtue. He argues that a ‘market-based globalisation project’ has fostered meritocratic ideas which humiliate the victims of that project and undermine the dignity of labour. I question Sandel’s claim that meritocracy is a market value and the dignity of labour is not. I argue that his account of a moral alternative to normal market institutions—an economy in which individuals’ rewards are somehow aligned with their true merits—is deeply incoherent.

Keywords: Merit; Meritocracy; Dignity of labour; Contributive justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s12232-022-00402-7

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