Democracy's Discontent: Why Are We So Polarized, and What Can We Do About It? 6.17.2025

Video Description

The 1990s were a heady time. The Cold War had ended, and America’s version of liberal capitalism seemed triumphant. And yet, amid the peace and prosperity, anxieties about the project of self-government could be glimpsed beneath the surface. So argued Michael Sandel, in his influential and widely debated book Democracy’s Discontent, published in 1996. Now, a quarter century later, Sandel updates his classic work for an age when democracy’s discontent has hardened into a country divided against itself. In Democracy's Discontent: A New Edition for Our Perilous Times, Sandel extends his account of America’s civic struggles from the 1990s to the present. The book is an essential--and ultimately hopeful--reading for all those who wonder if our democratic experiment will survive in the twenty-first century. Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University, where his legendary course “Justice: Ethical Reasoning in Polarized Times,” fills Harvard’s largest auditorium. Sandel is also the author of The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?, which seeks a way beyond the polarized politics of our time. His other previous books include Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? and What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. Speaker Michael Sandel Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, Harvard University