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Thomas Piketty Capital and Ideology, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press ISBN 9780674980822 1093 pp. £25.22

Piketty's magisterial analysis of socioeconomic inequalities and changing ideologies is likely to transform the field. It is based on primary research, including Parisian inheritance archives, and on an exceptionally wide range of secondary historical sources. Whereas his Capital in the Twenty-First Century was limited to Western societies, this work has a broader scope. It enters into the important debate as to what led to the 17th Century “great demarcation” between the West and other countries, attributing a crucial role to Western countries' slaveholding as the pedestal for industrial capitalism. Piketty characterises the Belle Epoque (France, 1880-1914) as the apex of an extreme inequality of wealth in Europe, the USA and the UK, whilst, in 1932 -1979, a contrasting “deconcentration” of wealth and income occurred. He addresses two interlinked features of the post-1980 globalised world, namely, a new exacerbation of economic inequalities due to the disappearance of the highly progressive taxes of this social democratic period (1932-79) and the re-emergence of nationalist (“identitarian”) politics. The present review argues that not all contemporary movements for independence should be labelled “identitarian”: some, such as the Scottish Radical Independence Campaign, are collective mobilization for social justice within a smaller state. It also advocates the need for a closer engagement with the Brenner and Davidson debates, especially on the relationship between agrarian capitalism and industrial capitalism. Further, it suggests that Piketty should have discussed in more depth the rise of finance capitalism - or money making money - as analysed (amongst others) by François Chesnais, Christine Cooper, Donald MacKenzie and Hillel Ticktin. Finally, it discusses Piketty's propositions for social transformation: amongst them, highly progressive taxation on the top 10% (including a billionaires' tax), the end of tax havens, capital endowments for 25-year-olds, worker “codetermination” and carbon emissions taxes.