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The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy Paperback – June 28, 1996

by Thomas Sowell (Author)

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One of America’s pre-eminent economists offers a provocative critique of the failures of liberalism

In The Vision of the Anointed, Thomas Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy.

From the Publisher

	Social Justice Fallacies	Intellectuals and Race	Economic Facts and Fallacies	Discrimination and Disparities	A Conflict of Visions	Race and Culture

Customer Reviews	1,991	947	2,446	4,242	1,733	511
Price	$16.19	$18.81	$13.99	$16.99	$22.99	$14.32
Explore the works of Thomas Sowell	In this instant New York Times bestseller, renowned economist Thomas Sowell demolishes the myths that underpin the social justice movement	Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense of one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light.	Economic Facts and Fallacies exposes some of the most popular fallacies about economic issues-and does so in a lively manner and without requiring any prior knowledge of economics by the reader.	Discrimination and Disparities gathers a wide array of empirical evidence to challenge the idea that different economic outcomes can be explained by any one factor, be it discrimination, exploitation, or genetics.	A Conflict of Visions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity between both outlooks.	Race and Culture shows that cultural capital has far more impact than politics, prejudice, or genetics on the social and economic fates of minorities, nations, and civilization.

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"This is as compelling an explanation as any for the seemingly disproportionate amount of condescension and politically correct invective that emanates from the liberal side of the political spectrum toward the conservative opposition."―Scott McConnell, Wall Street Journal

"As always, Sowell's analysis is well informed and displays a great deal of that increasingly uncommon quality, common sense... In the largest sense, The Vision of the Anointed is a book about the perils of ideology—those dazzling intellectual-moral constructions that seduce the unwary into ignoring the way the world works for the sake of dreams about the way it must."―Roger Kimball, The American Spectator

"Mr. Sowell's eye is sharp, and everyone who has been up against progressive orthodoxy will find his or her own candidate for Most Annoying Liberal Kiss-Off Award."―Suzanne Garment, Washington Times

"Avid conservatives, for whom Sowell is a true-blue intellectual force, will certainly seize upon his analysis for succor."―Booklist

About the Author

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the author of dozens of books including Charter Schools and Their Enemies, winner of the 2021 Hayek Book Prize. He is the recipient of numerous other awards, including the National Humanities Medal, presented by the President of the United States in 2003.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (June 28, 1996)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 046508995X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465089956
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1710L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.38 x 1 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #25,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10 in Government Social Policy
- #62 in Political Conservatism & Liberalism
- #81 in History & Theory of Politics

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Customers find the book insightful and well-researched, with one review noting how it helps readers understand complex thinking. Moreover, the book receives praise for its readability, with customers describing it as brilliant, articulate, and concise. Additionally, customers appreciate its clarity, with one highlighting how it teaches readers to read between the lines.

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87 customers mention "Insight"80 positive7 negative

Customers find the book insightful and well-researched, with one customer noting how it helps understand the authors' thinking.

"...Bottom line: a wonderful, incisive, definitive book, one that explains a great deal of our current condition and (in a fairer world) the kind of..." Read more

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Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as well formulated and intelligent, with one customer noting it was published in 1995.

"...Bottom line: a wonderful, incisive, definitive book, one that explains a great deal of our current condition and (in a fairer world) the kind of..." Read more

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"...accomplishes this in a fairly concise manner of 9 easy to read, well written and well reasoned chapters supported by a moderate-or-higher amount of..." Read more

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Richard B. Schwartz
A Must-Read
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2025
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Tom Sowell writes several kinds of books: magisterial textbooks such as BASIC ECONOMICS, collections of journalistic pieces like IS REALITY OPTIONAL? and single-themed studies such as THE VISION OF THE ANOINTED. The latter contrasts the liberal vision (that of the self-anointed) with what he terms the tragic vision. The first vision is theoretical, unencumbered by altercations with recalcitrant reality and anchored in the clouds rather than in the collective experience of the masses of the world. It is the vision of self-appointed elites who feel that their expertise should supersede the accumulated wisdom of those who they consider rubes.

I have always loved a Sowell analogy that is comparable to Milton Friedman’s discussion of the knowledge and skill that is required to make a simple #2 pencil. Consider a socialist country that considers its engineers/activists superior in intellect to those it seeks to rule. It wants to reconstitute the economy by removing it from the hands of the bourgeoisie and placing it in the hands of experts. First task: creating hardware stores. A hardware store consists of thousands upon thousands of items made in different skews and carried in different numbers. How many boxes of 16-penny finishing nails should the store carry vs. the number of boxes of roofing nails vs. the number of screw nails in different sizes? Successful hardware store operators know these things, because they interact with thousands of people with specific needs. A state apparatchik knows none of this and will doubtless make decisions that quickly result in unnecessary surpluses and unnecessary shortages.

This, however, makes no difference to the anointed. They are never prepared to subject their theories to empirical tests because they believe that they are always smarter than the rest of us, so that even if they have to break a lot of our eggs to make their omelettes those omelettes will be a thing of beauty and a joy forever when we reach their utopia. When you add their virtue-signaling ‘moral’ imperatives to this mix you see quickly how we have found ourselves in our current condition in 2025 (the book was published in 1995).

I particularly like the ways in which TS traces the anointed’s etiology to the thought of certain figures of the Enlightenment, though I would probably emphasize Rousseau more than, e.g., Condorcet.

I would also change the labeling. (Borrowing from Don Greene’s comments on the conservatism of the English Enlightenment), I would call the conservative view (the world of limited resources in which choices are based on trade-offs rather than on fever dreams) an ‘Augustinian’ view. Our world is not so much ‘tragic’ as it is ‘fallen’, though there is tragedy in original sin.

Bottom line: a wonderful, incisive, definitive book, one that explains a great deal of our current condition and (in a fairer world) the kind of book that should be the universal read for an incoming college class.

Five stars.

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Enigma
The Writings of a Discerning Individual
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2005
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WOW - this book has been put on my "to read again shelf" - If this is any indication there are only 5 other books there and I read about 100 books a year. Terms such as superlative and magnum opus easily come to mind.

First of all this book is cerebral - the writing is clear and plain but requires thought on almost every page. Therefore, most of those who need it most will not be able to wade through it because to do so would force you to think. Thomas Sowell has dived deep into the muddy waters of the thought patterns of the left (vision of the anointed) and the right (tragic vision). He wants to understand the true motives of the left not just the results of their actions. I will not insult you any further with my word since they will only subtract from this awe-inspiring book. Instead enjoy a few words from the tome itself.

"The focus here will be on one particular vision - the vision prevailing among the intellectual and political elite of our time. What is important about that vision are not only its particular assumptions and their corollaries, but also the fact that it is a prevailing vision - which means that its assumptions are so much taken for granted by so many people, including so-called "thinking people," that neither those assumptions nor their corollaries are generally confronted with demands for empirical evidence. Indeed, empirical evidence itself may be viewed as suspect, insofar as it is inconsistent with that vision."

"(T)he vision of the anointed is not simply a vision of the world and its functioning in a causal sense, but is also a vision of themselves and the moral role in the world. It is a vision of differential rectitude. It is not a vision of the tragedy of the human condition: Problems exist because others are not as wise or as virtuous of the anointed."

"Factual evidence and logical arguments are often not merely lacking but ignored in many discussions by those with the vision of the anointed. Much that is said by the anointed in the outward form of an argument turns out not to arguments at all. Often the logical structure of an argument is replaced by preemptive rhetoric or, where an argument is made, its validity remains unchecked against any evidence, even when such evidence is abundant. Evidence is often particularly abundant when it comes to statements about history, yet the anointed have repeatedly been as demonstrably wrong about the past as about the present or the future - and as supremely confident."

"Those with the vision of the anointed are particularly prone to think of their own philosophy as new, and therefore as adapted to contemporary society, but their framework of assumptions goes back at least two centuries - as does the framework of those with the tragic vision."

"But one of the crucial differences between those with the tragic vision and those with the vision of the anointed is in what they respectively assume that we know how to do. Those with the vision of the anointed are seldom deterred by any question as to whether anyone has the knowledge required to do what they attempting."

"The hallmark of the vision of the anointed is that what the anointed consider lacking for the kind of social progress they envision is will and power, not knowledge. But to those with the tragic vision, what is dangerous are will and power without knowledge - and for many expansive purposes, knowledge is inherently insufficient.

In their hast to be wiser and nobler than others, the anointed have misconceived two basic issues. They seem to assume (1) that they have more knowledge than the average member of the benighted and (2) that this is the relevant comparison. The real comparison, however, is not between the knowledge possessed by the average member of the educated elite versus the average member of the general public, but rather the TOTAL direct knowledge brought to bear through social processes (the competition of the marketplace, social sorting, etc.), involving millions of people, versus the secondhand knowledge of generalities possessed by a smaller elite group. Moreover, the existing generation's traditions and values distill the experiences of other millions in times past. Yet the anointed seem to conceive the issue as one of the syllogistic reasoning of the past versus the syllogistic reasoning of the present, preferring to believe that improvements in knowledge and reason permit the former to be dismissed."

"What is seldom part of the vision of the anointed is a concept of ordinary people as autonomous decision makers free to reject any vision and to seek their own well-being through whatever social processes they choose. Thus, when those with the prevailing vision speak of the family - if only to defuse their adversaries' emphasis on family values - they tend to conceive of the family as a RECIPENT institution for government largess or guidance, rather than as DECISION-MAKING institution determining for itself how children shall be raised and with what values."

"The anointed do no simply HAPPEN to have a disdain for the public, Such disdain is an integral part of their vision, for the central feature of that vision is preemption of the decisions of others."

"Perhaps the most fundamental difference between those with the tragic vision and those with vision of the anointed is that the former see policy-making in terms of trade-offs and the latter in terms of `solutions'."

"The point here is not simply that some people were mistaken in their beliefs and hopes for this particular program, but that they barricaded themselves against all beliefs to the contrary and morally condemned those who express such beliefs. It is this pattern which has been all too characteristic of the anointed, on this and other issues, over a very long span of time."

I hope this woefully small smattering of quotes has helped enlighten you about this great book.

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Gonz1357
Resonates louder 30 years after its creation.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2024
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This is my first Thomas Sowell book and it’s excellent. The book essentially analyses the tactics and lack of accountability from failed policies implemented by liberal/leftists. The use of language to squash opposing views and to achieve their goals, as well as their insufferable sanctimony in doing it.

Vision of the anointed uses data to bolster Sowell’s points, and presents many examples of politicians throughout American politics who have used the aforementioned tactics to get what they want and pointed the finger elsewhere when it goes awry.

The biggest shock? The book was written nearly thirty years ago and is just as relevant today, more so even, than it was in 1995. Subversion of language and a lack of interest for hard facts are the order of the day for the anointed as Sowell puts it, and these precepts are used religiously today. If you want a book with lucid, clear cut prose, look no further. This is excellent, well written stuff by a very shrewd commentator.

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james Fraas
so interesting!
Reviewed in Canada on April 25, 2025
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Thomas Sowell is so interesting. He uncovers the lies and strategies of the left with depth and insight that is difficult to imagine. Great book!

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norman_h
The second best book by Sowell. Well worth reading.
Reviewed in Australia on May 29, 2021
Verified Purchase
I've read this book after reading Sowells other book "Conflict of Visions". It didn't disappoint. This book tends to expand on much of Conflict of Visions by providing many concrete examples as well as expanded theory.

If I were to recommend this book to someone who hadn't read any Sowell before, I would read Conflict of Visions first, then this book, then another of his works "Intellectuals and Society". I've read numerous other books from the author, but, these three consolidate much of his work from the others in both a theoretical and practical sense.

If you ever read this Mr Sowell... Thank you...

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norman_h

The second best book by Sowell. Well worth reading.

Reviewed in Australia on May 29, 2021
I've read this book after reading Sowells other book "Conflict of Visions". It didn't disappoint. This book tends to expand on much of Conflict of Visions by providing many concrete examples as well as expanded theory.

If I were to recommend this book to someone who hadn't read any Sowell before, I would read Conflict of Visions first, then this book, then another of his works "Intellectuals and Society". I've read numerous other books from the author, but, these three consolidate much of his work from the others in both a theoretical and practical sense.

If you ever read this Mr Sowell... Thank you...

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DT Flynn
A must read to understand a crazy world.
Reviewed in Germany on July 31, 2023
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A very clearly and reasoned examination. While written before the internet revolution, it clearly is salient to today's world and social drivers. A must read for the open-minded who are trying to make sense of the world.

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Patthy Silva
Recomendadíssimo!
Reviewed in Brazil on September 30, 2022
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Em"The Vision Of The Anointed; Self-Congratulation As A Basis For Social Policy", Thomas Sowell expõe, com maestria, o fenômeno da superioridade moral de pessoas com determinadas posições ideológicas. Para tanto, apresenta duas categorias muito importantes:

a) os ungidos, pessoas que se percebem como moralmente superiores em razão de suas posições ideológicas atreladas à esquerda do espectro político. São membros da elite política e intelectual, cujo pensamento entranhou-se na mídia e na academia, de maneira que a maioria das pessoas sequer consideram que há outras formas de pensar;
b) os sem luz, aqueles que discordam dos ungidos.
Sowell destaca uma característica importante dos ungidos: suas ações não se baseiam na realidade concreta e sim nas suas intenções (ou melhor, na aparência de suas intenções).

Como as ações dos ungidos carecem de evidências empíricas, eles utilizam duas táticas para obstruir o debate público:

a) demonizar o oponente. ((...)aquilo que discorda com a visão predominante não é visto apenas como erro, mas como pecado." p.3);

b) desenvolver um vocabulário próprio para esconder sua fragilidade argumentativa.

Por essa razão, vemos o recorrente uso das mesmas palavras: crise, decolonizar, afrocentrado, eurocêntrico, supremacista, ocidental etc. O autor chama esse fenômeno de “inflação verbal”: "as ordinárias vicissitudes da vida transformam-se em traumas. Qualquer situação que eles desejam mudanças transforma-se em crise." (p.215)

"Apesar da advertência de Hamlet contra o auto-enaltecimento, a visão dos ungidos não é simplesmente uma visão do mundo e do seu funcionamento num sentido casual. É também uma visão de si mesmos e do seu papel moral nesse mundo. É uma visão de uma retidão diferenciada. Não é uma visão da tragédia da condição humana: os problemas existem porque os outros não são tão sábios ou tão virtuosos quanto eles, os ungidos. " ( p.5)

Livro recomendadíssimo!

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read

5.0 out of 5 stars The Writings of a Discerning Individual

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5.0 out of 5 stars Resonates louder 30 years after its creation.

5.0 out of 5 stars so interesting!

5.0 out of 5 stars The second best book by Sowell. Well worth reading.

The second best book by Sowell. Well worth reading.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A must read to understand a crazy world.

5.0 out of 5 stars Recomendadíssimo!

A Must-Read

The Writings of a Discerning Individual

Resonates louder 30 years after its creation.

so interesting!

The second best book by Sowell. Well worth reading.

A must read to understand a crazy world.

Recomendadíssimo!