Polityczna historia ustrojów nierównościowych. O kapitale i ideologii Thomasa Piketty’ego

In this paper, I aim to analyse Thomas Piketty’s latest book, Capital and Ideology, from both the methodological and historiographical perspectives. What kind of presuppositions does Piketty adopt in his research focusing on the history of so‑called inequality regimes? Does he continue to create historical knowledge in order to propose social and political solutions concerning contemporary world issues? What role does the notion of ideology play in the book? These questions outline the structure of my argument presented in the following paper. Then, I show how Piketty understands the concept of ideology and how he weaves it into the concept of inequality regimes. It consists of three elements: the system of ownership, the political dimen-sion, and ideology. A good illustration of this intertwining, as I demonstrate, is the French ownership system of the 19th century. Importantly, ideology for Piketty does not mean a dis-course that has the characteristics of hypocrisy; rather, it defines certain ways of thinking that are insurmountable for a given regime. This is evidenced, for example, by discussions about re-parations for slavery, which are directed towards former owners rather than the enslaved, as I elaborate in the text.