Narrating inequality, eliding empire

Bibliographic Data

ID7092086
AuthorsG K Bhambra (0000-0003-3658-1575, School of Global Studies University of Sussex Brighton UK, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume72
Issue1
Pages69-78
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-4446.12804
PMID33764514
OpenAlexW3137266910
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited13

Piketty’s call for a historically informed, global analysis of inequality is timely, as is the need for a corresponding transformation of our current politics. However, I believe there to be a fundamental flaw in his analysis which reproduces a Eurocentric approach to understanding global inequality. The key issue is that Piketty organizes his historical comparative analysis in terms of inequality within nations. Yet, the polities he is discussing were rarely just nations over the long durée. Rather, they were imperial formations constituted by a colonizing state and the territories and populations that were incorporated. His approach separates the logic of what he calls the modern proprietarian regime of inequality from enslavement and colonialism when both were integral to it. In contrast, I argue for them to be seen as necessarily interconnected with a lasting legacy in contemporary configurations of global inequality

Colonialism · Empire · Inequality · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Mathematics · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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