Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Thomas Piketty

Quote by Thomas Piketty

“We find the same pattern in virtually every region of the world: the identity cleavage deepened and conflicts over boundaries intensified while the wealth cleavage weakened and criticism of wealth became muted.”

Quote by Thomas Piketty

Work

Capital and Ideology

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Thomas Piketty
Thomas Piketty

Thomas Piketty is a renowned French economist born on May 7, 1971. His research focuses on income and wealth inequality, economic growth, and capital accumulation. Piketty is known for his in-depth studies on inequality and his influential book 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century' has had a global impact. more

You May Also Like

“In America’s earliest mythologizing of itself, America is the underdog guided to the promised land by a merciful God. Other countries do something similar. In some other national mythology, America might be the Egyptian Pharaoh holding a worthy population captive. We can’t all be that righteous. And sometimes that’s hard to stomach. It’s hard accepting that your comfort, or privilege, or disinterest might feed into a real and palpable problem for another group of people. And it’s hard, once you’ve recognized this to be the case, to heed the call to change.”

“If [captains of industry] really sit down and and think, you will know why you must have time and feeling for the people who are not so successful. Then, they will leave you in charge to make the decisions to make their lives better. But if they think you are making decisions to make your life better at their expense, then there will be trouble. If you act like a big shot, not only will you collapse, but you will also bring the Government down. Therefore, when [any captain of industry] acts like a big shot, my job is to take the pin and poke the balloon and break it.”

“[W]e are asked to present or use our bank cards, gym cards, grocery store cards, work ID, and so on, a lot more than we use our state or government IDs. We rarely use our State IDs, unless we are in trouble or to prove that we are ‘legal’ or entitled to some meager benefits. Our existence in the system is measured by many different cards issued by corporate America. As a result, as soon as any card expires, you are denied entrance into places. You are valid only for as long as the expiration date on your credit card, the money you have in your bank account, or the expiration date of your gym membership/card. You become invisible in the society once your cards expire. You are nobody when you can no longer afford to renew your memberships of all these expensive corporate cards.”

“[F]or most jobs that are not slavery conditions, American employers expect newcomers, if fortunate enough to be considered, to have a strong command of the English language. Yet, for Western expats in other countries, the colonially written job posts always make it clear that speaking the language of that country is ‘a plus, but not required.’ In brief, American education and qualifications are treated as sacred, while those acquired elsewhere are untrustworthy and must be proven all over again.”

“[T]he education system in America is designed to keep wealth and resources for the privileged and to keep the poor and the crushed folks at the bottom, with rare exceptions usually amplified and promoted for PR purposes. If education’s primary purpose is to save people through knowledge and social mobility, then the millions of Americans, including many Black people, who don’t have access to good education as do the rich and privileged children getting prepped up early on for ivy league schools, is a clear indication that the American education is a huge failure.”