International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2022

 

The Piketty’s Question: conceptional history and the study of inequality

(Abstract)

 

Xiaoshuang Zhang

 

Inequality is a hot topic in such social science disciplines as economics. Thomas Piketty focuses on the field in a continuous effort. Based on Capital in the Twenty-first Century, he tried to promote the study on inequality in his recent work, Capital and Ideology. While he believes in that the root of economic inequality is ROE surpassed growth rate, Piketty argues that the key for differentiation is a mix of politics and ideology result in the lower classes with low income and educational levels losing the opportunity to change their conditions. In an examination of the conceptional history of “Piketty’s Question,” we can found that in their studies of inequality, western scholars either reject political power, let the power of capital go unchecked, or criticize the power of capital and bank on political power. “Unilinear critique” and “binary opposition” make economics and social sciences oscillate between “the Economics for the Rich” and “the Political Science for the Poor.” The aim of China’s conception, Common Prosperity, is the well-being of community, and its foothold is the double-line critique of capital and power. It can be seen as an opportunity for the dialogue on inequality in the world and make its meaning for the international social sciences clear.