This is a characteristically beautifully written and thoughtful overview of the limits of meritocracy and its links to the difficult political and cultural situation in which we find ourselves. Elegantly argued and referenced as it is, it is hard to argue with observations like "focusing only, or mainly, on rising does little to cultivate the social bonds and civic attachments that democracy requires'. However, although Brexit does feature, it is rather US-centric and fails to take extensively into account some contexts (Germany, Scandinavia) which buck the over-meritocratic, under-democratic picture Sandel paints. For that reason, it reads a little like an over-extended journal or journalistic article and could have gone much further in offering both counter-examples and options for change.

Michael Sandel's 2009 book, The Case Against Perfection, argued against the idea of perfection: how it is not something really applicable to managing human lives and sets an impossible standard that makes us feel worse for not reaching it. His argument in The Tyranny of Merit is very much the same but targeted at another seemingly good thing that is really corrosive: meritocracy.

The ‘real problem’ with meritocracy is not the obvious practical one (rich people can and do cheat), but about how it makes us link success to good character and failure to poor character. Life’s winners feel they deserve their success because they are better people, not because they are lucky (genes, stable family, or simply aptitude for the type of skills that society happens to value and that schools and universities test for). Sadly, the unlucky internalise the winners’ values and see themselves as ‘losers’.

As a conservative Sandler always argues for ‘human flourishing’ – our societies should enable their citizens to live a good life of social contributions that are recognised and respected by fellow citizens. But he is very aware that we don’t live in a world where this is really the case. Our societies are actually based on a market system that values individualism and wealth - what we get from life - and devalues manual labour and working-class life in general. In this book he suggests that Brexit and Trump (both happening in 2016) were a revolt of the working class that has provided a wake-up call for the middle-class, the privileged and ‘credentialed’ graduates who dominate our public life.

Sandel dismisses the ‘liberal’ belief that life is a problem that technical solutions can insure against. Liberals, he suggests, focus on such problems and solutions, addressing the public with off-putting expert talk when what real citizens need is inspiration, values and civic culture. It is community values that bind us together, take the edge off our egoism, selfishness and fellow feeling. Community makes us feel needed and valued and rooted. Instead, we have populism, division, and the discourse of hubris and humiliation.

Sandel seeks to re-frame the issue from a humanely conservative viewpoint. Life happens to us and we cope with it as best we can. It is character values that really matter – how we approach life not what we take from it. We ought to be proud of our character and shouldn’t take our luck personally. This idea of ‘moral luck’ is familiar within Sandel’s human conservative tradition: Bernard Williams made this the title of a collection of his essays from the 70s. Martha Nussbaum made this a central aspect of her Fragility of Goodness (which did a great job of making Aristotle’s ‘virtue ethics’ the favoured vehicle for such views). In the 90s the Communitarians shared a lot of common ground, warning against the individualism and inequality that comes with market liberalism.

Sandel’s is a readable brand of philosophy, based upon stories and illustrations tied to contemporary issues and debates. He explains the issues clearly and doesn’t give long technical lectures about long-dead philosophers or rely upon pre-existing knowledge. Consequently, his books sell better than most other philosophers. His 2010 book Justice was a global best-seller and the Harvard lectures it was based upon were even aired on TV (and now available on the web). This is not quite so well constructed, but is still more accessible and engaging than most philosophy – without being any less intelligent.

Advanced Review Copy supplied by NetGalley for an impartial review

Michael Sandel is a fantastic writer. Engaging, illuminating and thought provoking. I've been talking to absolutely everyone about this book. It should be on every politician and policymaker's reading list. One of the books of the year, deserves to be a massive bestseller.