Capital and Ideology

A New York Times Bestseller An NPR Best Book of the Year The epic successor to one of the most important books of the century: at once a retelling of global history, a scathing critique of contemporary politics, and a bold proposal for a new and fairer economic system. Thomas Piketty's bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system. Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. Piketty explores the material and ideological interactions of conflicting social groups that have given us slavery, serfdom, colonialism, communism, and hypercapitalism, shaping the lives of billions. He concludes that the great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. The new era of extreme inequality that has derailed that progress since the 1980s, he shows, is partly a reaction against communism, but it is also the fruit of ignorance, intellectual specialization, and our drift toward the dead-end politics of identity. Once we understand this, we can begin to envision a more balanced approach to economics and politics. Piketty argues for a new "participatory" socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power. Capital and Ideology is destined to be one of the indispensable books of our time, a work that will not only help us understand the world, but that will change it. "Thomas Piketty's bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system. Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. Piketty explores the material and ideological interactions of conflicting social groups that have given us slavery, serfdom, colonialism, communism, and hypercapitalism, shaping the lives of billions. He concludes that the great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. The new era of extreme inequality that has derailed that progress since the 1980s, he shows, is partly a reaction against communism, but it is also the fruit of ignorance, intellectual specialization, and our drift toward the dead-end politics of identity. Once we understand this, we can begin to envision a more balanced approach to economics and politics. Piketty argues for a new "participatory" socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power"-- Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system. Our economy, he observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. The great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. -- abridged from jacket "Thomas Piketty's bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system. Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. Piketty explores the material and ideological interactions of conflicting social groups that have given us slavery, serfdom, colonialism, communism, and hypercapitalism, shaping the lives of billions. He concludes that the great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. The new era of extreme inequality that has derailed that progress since the 1980s, he shows, is partly a reaction against communism, but it is also the fruit of ignorance, intellectual specialization, and our drift toward the dead-end politics of identity. Once we understand this, we can begin to envision a more balanced approach to economics and politics. Piketty argues for a new "participatory" socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power"-- Provided by publisher Contents 6 Preface and Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 12 Part One. Inequality Regimes in History 60 1. Ternary Societies: Trifunctional Inequality 62 2. European Societies of Orders: Power and Property 76 3. The Invention of Ownership Societies 110 4. Ownership Societies: The Case of France 137 5. Ownership Societies: European Trajectories 167 Part Two. Slave and Colonial Societies 212 6. Slave Societies: Extreme Inequality 214 7. Colonial Societies: Diversity and Domination 263 8. Ternary Societies and Colonialism: The Case of India 315 9. Ternary Societies and Colonialism: Eurasian Trajectories 373 Part Three. The Great Transformation of the Twentieth Century 424 10. The Crisis of Ownership Societies 426 11. Social-Democratic Societies: Incomplete Equality 497 12. Communist and Postcommunist Societies 589 13. Hypercapitalism: Between Modernity and Archaism 659 Part Four. Rethinking the Dimensions of Political Conflict 728 14. Borders and Property: The Construction of Equality 730 15. Brahmin Left: New Euro-American Cleavages 818 16. Social Nativism: The Postcolonial Identitarian Trap 873 17. Elements for a Participatory Socialism for the Twenty-First Century 977 Conclusion 1046 Glossary 1054 Contents in Detail 1056 List of Tables and Illustrations 1069 Index 1076 Thomas Piketty's Capital In The Twenty-first Century Showed That Capitalism, Left To Itself, Generates Deepening Inequality. In This Audacious Follow-up, He Challenges Us To Revolutionize How We Think About Ideology And History, Exposing The Ideas That Have Sustained Inequality Since Premodern Times And Outlining A Fairer Economic System.