How? ‘Ideologies’ both dictate and rest upon ‘a theory of borders (who belongs and who doesn’t) and property (what belongs-and what can’t belong-to whom).’ Combined they form inequality regimes, a set of discourses and institutional arrangements that shore the inequities of a given society. Rather, it is ideological and political.” (It is unjust because it stunts our socio-political thinking.) “So, in contrast to relations of production determining a society’s ideological ‘superstructure’, the realm of ideas-the political-ideological sphere-is truly autonomous.”Įrgo, because inequality is not determined, every society must develop an ideology (a plausible discourse on class, race, or merit, etc.) to justify-and make real-its latent (or coming) injustices. In Piketty’s revision, “the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of the struggle of ideologies and the quest for justice.”Ĭapital and Ideology proffers not only a theory of inequality, but a program-of sorts-to combat it, sans class struggle.Īccording to Piketty inequality is “neither economic nor technological. Paul Krugman reckons Capital and Ideology “stands Marx on his head.” But it’s fairer to say it elides him, taking cues from Hegel, instead.

But with inequality, crises (‘ruptures’ in Piketty-speak) are certain, allowing for change if there is different thinking to guide it. To compound it, the working class spent those decades retreating to the Right, both from the heartbreak of Communism and the fear of rising global competition. Piketty contends that decades of rising wealth inequality have allowed the top quintile to dominate everything from education to elections, and-more importantly-to disseminate a social theory that justifies it. Now he’s followed with a tome on how we embed inequality in our politics. Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21 st Century (2009) convinced many, largely by its scale, that rising inequality is bedded in our economics. Thomas Piketty, Capital and Ideology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2020.

Capital and ideology paperback