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Ideologies and Utopia: A Ricoeurian Reading of Thomas Piketty

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  • Benoît Walraevens

    (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

In his most recent books, Piketty offers a global history of ine-quality in its economic, social, political, and intellectual dimensions, ar-guing that history is moved by the struggle of ideologies. To take part in this battle of ideas, he conceives a new ideal model of society, ‘participa-tive socialism', as an egalitarian alternative to the dominant neoproprie-tarian ideology and to the dangerous resurgence of nationalism and pop-ulism. This paper provides a new interpretation of Piketty's view of his-tory and of his participatory socialism in light of Paul Ricoeur's study of the dialectics of ideology and utopia. First, I present Ricoeur's singular analysis of ideology and utopia, which he sees as two inseparable facets of social imagination. Then I show how Ricoeur's concepts can be fruit-fully applied to Piketty's conception of history and to his conception of a new form of socialism for the 21st century, drawing lessons from history and forming a ‘good' or ‘realist' utopia. Finally, I demonstrate that this interpretation of Piketty's socialism can help to better understand some of the criticisms he has received. © 2023, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics. All Rights Reserved.

Suggested Citation

  • Benoît Walraevens, 2023. "Ideologies and Utopia: A Ricoeurian Reading of Thomas Piketty," Post-Print hal-04195650, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04195650
    DOI: 10.23941/ejpe.v16i1.673
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04195650v2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John E. Roemer, 1994. "A Future for Socialism," Politics & Society, , vol. 22(4), pages 451-478, December.
    2. Emmanuel Saez, 2021. "Public Economics and Inequality: Uncovering Our Social Nature," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 1-26, May.
    3. Thomas Piketty, 2022. "Mesurer le racisme, vaincre les discriminations," Post-Print halshs-03810449, HAL.
    4. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2022. "Twenty Years and Counting: Thoughts about Measuring the Upper Tail," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(1), pages 255-264, March.
    5. Pablo Gilabert & Holly Lawford-Smith, 2012. "Political Feasibility: A Conceptual Exploration," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 60(4), pages 809-825, December.
    6. Motadel, David & Drayton, Richard, 2021. "Material conditions and ideas in global history," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108918, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Atkinson, Anthony B., 2015. "Inequality: what can be done?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101810, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    Keywords

    ideology; participatory so-cialism; Piketty; realism; Ricoeur; utopia;
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