vi, ix).Ĭapital and Ideology shows considerable ambition, seeking to construct a global history of inequality and what it calls inequality regimes, classified in a broad typology. Harnessing a rich historical accounting of this “broader temporal, spatial, and comparative perspective” supports his call to “radically transform the present economic system to make it less inegalitarian, more equitable, and more sustainable” (Piketty, 2020, pp. Capital and Ideology, “in large part” a sequel to Capital in the Twenty-First Century ( 2014), addresses what Thomas Piketty viewed as his previous work's two major shortcomings an overfocus on the nations of Western Europe, North America and Japan, and the tendency “to treat the political and ideological changes associated with inequality and redistribution as a black box.” Piketty adopts an historical approach for his most recent project in order not only to understand the past, but through that understanding of the past to “construct a more balanced narrative and sketch the outlines of a new participatory socialism.” Thus, his political and economic prescriptions are rooted in a fundamentally historical analysis. When an economist whose previous book sold two million copies announces his new book will be grounded in historical data from many countries, he deserves serious attention and analysis from historians.
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