Capital and Ideology Hardcover

"Capital and Ideology" by Thomas Piketty is an ambitious and expansive follow-up to his seminal Capital in the Twenty-First Century, offering a sweeping global history of inequality from a truly interdisciplinary perspective. Published in 2019, this book argues that economic inequality is not a natural outcome of market forces, but rather a product of societal choices and the ideologies that justify them. Piketty meticulously examines how different societies throughout history—from feudal Europe and ancient India to modern hypercapitalism—have structured their "inequality regimes" through varying systems of property, education, and political power. He exposes the ideas that have sustained these disparities for millennia, critiques the failures of contemporary politics, and proposes a bold vision for a new, fairer economic system grounded in "participatory socialism," emphasizing universal access to education, progressive taxation, social ownership, and the sharing of knowledge. This monumental work challenges readers to rethink the relationship between economics, history, and the powerful role of ideology in shaping human destinies.