Capital and Ideology

[In] Piketty's magisterial survey of the central role that ideas and discourse have played in alternately justifying and questioning societies' inequities, we are reminded that political uprisings, financial collapses, and wars--think the French Revolution, the Great Depression, and World War II--are what drive change.--Scott LaPierre Harvard Business Review (03/01/2020) Has virtues that many post-Marxist critiques lack...Piketty's sweeping scholarship enhances, rather than obscures, his central argument.--The Economist (02/29/2020) More like a history of the world than an economics book...An awe-inspiring breadth of data is tapped...And after dives into such detail, unlike the average data aficionado, Piketty always soars back up to the big picture. On occasion, a blistering insight can cut through reams of history.-- (02/28/2020) Spenglerian in scope, Piketty's critique reaches far back in history and across the globe...It's an admirable corrective to the usual Eurocentrism of Western economists...Piketty has modified his thinking since his previous opus. Rather than imply that rising inequality is a problem inherent in capitalism, he now suggests that the levels of inequality we get are the ones we countenance--that they're entirely a matter of political and ideological choices.-- (03/09/2020) [A] wide-ranging historical survey of 'inequality regimes'--dogmas that justify hierarchies of wealth and power...This ambitious manifesto will stir controversy, but also cement Piketty's position as the Left's leading economic theorist.--Publishers Weekly (starred review) (12/18/2019) A believer in how capitalism can be used to eradicate inequality, Piketty argues for new taxation systems that might minimize the gap between the one percent and the underserved. Whether he's right or wrong, his dazzling intellect makes for thought-provoking reading.-- (02/25/2020) An astonishing experiment in social science, one that defies easy comparison. In its ambition, obsessive testimony and sheer oddness, it is closer to the spirit of Karl Ove Knausgard than of Karl Marx...Will be impossible to ignore.-- (02/19/2020) Ranges widely across continents and centuries in its analysis of economic inequality and the ways it is justified.--Matthew Reisz Times Higher Education (02/27/2020) A significant work. The author interrogates the principal forms of economic organization over time, from slavery to 'non-European trifunctional societies, ' Chinese-style communism, and 'hypercapitalist' orders, in order to examine relative levels of inequality and its evolution...A deftly argued case for a new kind of socialism that, while sure to inspire controversy, bears widespread discussion.-- (01/15/2020) Outlines a fairer economic system for the world.--Claire Warren Management Today (12/17/2019) A book of remarkable clarity and dynamism. Drawing lessons from a breathtaking survey of different historical experiences, it teaches us that nothing is inevitable, that there exist a whole range of possibilities between hypercapitalism and the disasters of the communist experience. It's up to us to make our future. Let's roll up our sleeves.--Esther Duflo, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences Thomas Piketty's new book starts where Capital in the Twenty-First Century left off, revealing how inequality was allowed to develop into an acceptable condition, now and in the past, in the West and in the rest of the world. Still, not all is bad: if inequality is a social construct, that means it can also be undone. Based on monumental research, Capital and Ideology is an appeal to rethink capitalism--if not for today's politicians then perhaps for tomorrow's revolution!--Reinier de Graaf, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, author of Four Walls and a Roof Might become even more politically influential than the French economist's 2013 overview of inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century...Piketty explains why this could be the moment for a turn to equality, and which policies could make that happen.--Simon Kuper Financial Times (09/26/2019) Thomas Piketty's magisterial global and connected history takes us on a whirlwind journey across the world during the past 500 years to show how shifting ideas and politics have shaped a wide variety of inequality regimes. Fully embracing the power of historical analysis, Capital and Ideology emboldens us to reimagine the possibilities of our present. Enormously rich in argument and evidence, this tour de force by one of the most influential thinkers of our age is a must-read for anyone grappling with the dilemmas of our present.--Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton: A Global History Thomas Piketty's books are always monumental...In the same way that Capital in the Twenty-First Century has transformed how economists look at inequality, Capital and Ideology will transform the way political scientists look at their own field.--Branko Milanovic ProMarket (09/06/2019) The breadth of Piketty's learning is extraordinary...Politicians who hope for more than a short duree in power would do well to digest the main thesis.--Howard Davies Literary Review (03/01/2020)