{"id":336842,"date":"2022-01-06T11:16:24","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T16:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=336842"},"modified":"2023-11-08T19:56:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T00:56:51","slug":"populist-anger-and-lessons-for-u-s-in-german-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2022\/01\/populist-anger-and-lessons-for-u-s-in-german-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Seething populist anger and lessons for U.S. in German elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
\"Michael

Ideas from Michael Sandel\u2019s 2020 book, \u201cThe Tyranny of Merit," influenced the campaign of Olaf Scholz, the new chancellor of Germany.<\/p>

File photo by Jon Chase\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tSeething populist anger and lessons for U.S. in German elections\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
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\n\t\tManisha Aggarwal-Schifellite\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tMichael Sandel\u2019s views of myth of meritocracy lifted new chancellor, may offer hints on way forward here\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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As Americans reflect on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and the first year of President Biden\u2019s tenure, Michael Sandel<\/a> says it\u2019s time to understand the deep connections between the rise of populist anger in Western democratic countries and the long-held belief in meritocracy among elite members of those societies.<\/p>\n

The Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government has argued that over the past 40 years elites in nations like the U.S., U.K., and Germany began incorrectly attributing their success in education and employment solely to their abilities, ignoring their unequal resources and connections. That idea sent a message to working-class people that their lot in life, in turn, was their own fault, leading to resentment and a backlash against those at the top.<\/p>\n

The solution, Sandel says, is to dispense with falsely exalted views of meritocracy and focus on fairness and humility in pursuit of a common good \u2014 a message that resonated with Olaf Scholz, the new chancellor of Germany. Scholz read Sandel\u2019s 2020 book, \u201cThe Tyranny of Merit: What\u2019s Become of the Common Good?<\/a>,\u201d and held a p<\/a>ublic dialogue with him<\/a> prior to the September elections. His campaign, which targeted working-class voters with the slogan \u201cRespect for You,\u201d was influenced by Sandel\u2019s ideas. Sandel recently spoke to the Gazette about the lessons that Scholz\u2019s election and the Jan. 6 attack have for the future of democracy. This interview was edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n

Q&A<\/h2>\n

Michael Sandel<\/h3>\n

GAZETTE:<\/strong> It\u2019s been widely reported that your book had a great impact on Olaf Scholz as he tried to revive the Social Democrat party in Germany. What do you think worked well in his outreach to voters?<\/p>\n

SANDEL:<\/strong> Scholz recognized that simply encouraging people to clamber up the ladder of success by getting a college degree, at a time when the rungs on the ladder were growing further and further apart, didn\u2019t work in the age of globalization. He focused on renewing the dignity of work, on seeking respect and social recognition for everyone who contributes to the common good, not only those with professional credentials and degrees. This change in tone and emphasis resonated and enabled him to connect with many working-class voters who had been put off by meritocratic credentialism.<\/p>\n\r\n

\u201cThis way of thinking about success entrenches inequality. It has also led to resentment among many working people who believe that elites look down on them.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\n

GAZETTE:<\/strong> What are some policies that would exemplify this shift in Germany and in the U.S.?<\/p>\n

SANDEL:<\/strong> Increasing the minimum wage was one of the policies Scholz emphasized, a policy that has also been on the agenda in American politics. But renewing the dignity of work also requires challenging the steep hierarchy of prestige that valorizes university degrees and depreciates other forms of learning. Germany has a stronger tradition of supporting vocational and technical training, both financially and in according respect and honor to those who go into those fields. In the U.S., we woefully underinvest in those forms of learning. In the book, I quote Isabel Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution, who found that the federal government spends about $162 billion helping people get college degrees, but only about $1.1 billion on vocational and technical training. This disparity reflects not only underfunding of that training, but also the meritocratic preoccupations of the way we govern and the way we allocate resources.<\/p>\n

Any serious attempt to renew the dignity of work would need also to strengthen collective bargaining for workers, including in the gig economy. We could also debate the values embedded in the tax code. For example, why should earnings from labor be taxed at a higher rate than earnings from dividends and capital gains? What does this say about our regard for the dignity of work? We might also debate whether to enact a tax on speculative financial transactions and use the revenues to reduce the payroll tax, which is a tax on labor. This would be another way of giving concrete expression to the dignity of work.<\/p>\n\r\n

\u201cDemocratic citizens need to deliberate about what counts as a valuable contribution to the common good, and how the economy should be reconfigured to recognize the contributions that really matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\n

GAZETTE:<\/strong> What effect has the focus on meritocracy had on the public\u2019s relationship with expertise?<\/p>\n

SANDEL:<\/strong> The public credibility of experts has been eroded. The experts who most discredited expertise in recent decades were those economists who urged and promoted the version of finance-driven globalization \u2014 including deregulation, the free flow of capital, and free trade agreements \u2014 that resulted in the outsourcing of jobs, rising inequality, and the financial crisis of 2008. These conditions led to the resentment that produced the backlash in 2016, including the vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

When the pandemic arose, we desperately needed the expertise of public health experts and medical experts, but the mistrust was already there. So when Dr. Anthony Fauci tells people to wear masks and get vaccinated, he is subject to the same mistrust that was sown by the neoliberal economists of the 1980s through the early 2000s. This is one of the great tragedies that ill-equipped us to contend with the pandemic.<\/p>\n

GAZETTE:<\/strong> How has this confluence of issues fed into rising populism and right-wing anger?<\/p>\n\r\n

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