The four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Remarks on the book The great leveler. Violence and the history of inequality from the Stone Age to the twenty-first century by Walter Scheidel
Journal Title: Przegląd Socjologiczny - Year 2017, Vol 0, Issue 4
Abstract
This article constitutes a review of the book “The great leveler” written by Walter Scheidel. We refer to the issue of constructing theories and pointing out the regularities in history. We present the scientific background of the author, as well as his inspirations from other publications of a similar kind, notably “Capital in the twenty-first century” by Thomas Piketty. We analyse the elements of Scheidel’s thesis that the levelling of income inequalities within the framework of states may come about only from violent shocks: mobilization warfare, transformative revolution, state failure, and lethal pandemics. We comment on each of these factors, offering a critical approach to the author’s interpretation and directions for further research. We also argue that for the studies of income disparities the estimation of data about the middle class is crucial, as the lack of or small scope of it is the most dangerous for domestic stability. The estimations of the top 1% of the richest means less in this context. We also propose a greater focus on the impact of welfare politics in democratic states. However, we highly appreciate the author’s thoroughness in compiling such a great amount of data as well as his logical argumentation, which make his work valuable, convincing, and intellectually stimulating.
Authors and Affiliations
Paulina Matera, Rafał Matera
Keywords
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- EP ID EP263289
- DOI 10.26485/PS/2017/66.4/7
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