Ideology and Institutions in the Evolution of Capital
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Katharina Pistor
Abstract
In Capital and Ideology, Thomas Piketty poses the intriguing thesis that ideology, or ideas about how society should be governed, is a powerful determinant for how society will be governed-as long as we take advantage of historical switch points. In this review essay I challenge this thesis by pointing out that many powerful ideas have run aground because of countervailing institutional arrangements. Oftentimes, they are leftovers from earlier times that precede the change and are now strategically employed for reconstituting private wealth. Clearly, ideology and institutions are deeply intertwined. I credit Piketty for putting ideology on the map of institutionalists in history, political sciences, sociology, and law. I therefore call for more research on the interaction of ideas and institutions.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Title
- Contents
- Editorial
- Symposium on Capital and Ideology
- Accumulating Capital: Capital and Ideology after Capital in the Twenty-First Century
- Ideology and Institutions in the Evolution of Capital
- Is More Mittelstand the Answer? Firm Size and the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
- Tensions in Piketty’s Participatory Socialism: Reconciling Justice and Democracy
- Justice, Power, and Participatory Socialism: on Piketty’s Capital and Ideology
- More Lessons to Learn: Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology and Alternative Archives of Social Experience
- About Capital, Socialism and Ideology
- General Part
- The Role of Culture in Evolutionary Theories of Human Cooperation
- Discussion: Jonathan Birch, Toolmaking and the Origin of Normative Cognition
- The Skilful Origins of Human Normative Cognition
- If Skill is Normative, Then Norms are Everywhere
- Norms Require Not Just Technical Skill and Social Learning, but Real Cooperation
- The Skill Hypothesis: A Variant
- Normative Guidance, Evaluative Guidance, and Skill
- Refining the Skill Hypothesis: Replies to Andrews/Westra, Tomasello, Sterelny, and Railton
Articles in the same Issue
- Title
- Contents
- Editorial
- Symposium on Capital and Ideology
- Accumulating Capital: Capital and Ideology after Capital in the Twenty-First Century
- Ideology and Institutions in the Evolution of Capital
- Is More Mittelstand the Answer? Firm Size and the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
- Tensions in Piketty’s Participatory Socialism: Reconciling Justice and Democracy
- Justice, Power, and Participatory Socialism: on Piketty’s Capital and Ideology
- More Lessons to Learn: Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology and Alternative Archives of Social Experience
- About Capital, Socialism and Ideology
- General Part
- The Role of Culture in Evolutionary Theories of Human Cooperation
- Discussion: Jonathan Birch, Toolmaking and the Origin of Normative Cognition
- The Skilful Origins of Human Normative Cognition
- If Skill is Normative, Then Norms are Everywhere
- Norms Require Not Just Technical Skill and Social Learning, but Real Cooperation
- The Skill Hypothesis: A Variant
- Normative Guidance, Evaluative Guidance, and Skill
- Refining the Skill Hypothesis: Replies to Andrews/Westra, Tomasello, Sterelny, and Railton
