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Property, wealth, and social change: Piketty as a social science engineer

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  • Savage, Mike
  • Waitkus, Nora

Abstract

This paper applauds the vision and originality of Piketty's Capital and Ideology. We draw attention to the distinctive methodological perspective which he adopts, which we liken to call “social science engineering.” This allows a problem oriented perspective on long-term global social change which sidesteps siloed disciplinary debates in social science and history about the meaning of modernity, the rise of capitalism, the formation of social groups, and the primacy of nations. We bring out how his theory of property permits him to take forward his overarching insight that economic growth leads to wealth accumulation. This, therefore, challenges long standing sociological perspectives by insisting that modernity is a conservative, rather than a revolutionary and transformative process. We build on this essential contribution by noting some areas where his work can push forward even further, notably that his focus on shifting relativities obscures qualitative historical changes, and more particularly means his analysis of the 20th century is not as provocative as that of the 19th century.

Suggested Citation

  • Savage, Mike & Waitkus, Nora, 2022. "Property, wealth, and social change: Piketty as a social science engineer," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114939, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:114939
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/114939/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katharina Knoll & Moritz Schularick & Thomas Steger, 2017. "No Price Like Home: Global House Prices, 1870-2012," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 331-353, February.
    2. Timothy Blackwell & Sebastian Kohl, 2018. "The origins of national housing finance systems: a comparative investigation into historical variations in mortgage finance regimes," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 49-74, January.
    3. Fabian T. Pfeffer & Nora Waitkus, 2020. "The Wealth Inequality of Nations," LWS Working papers 33, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; Matthew effect; Piketty; property & wealth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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