Inequality denial: Déjà vu all over again
When Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century was published this spring, it became an unlikely bestseller—bringing some much-needed research and rigor to the debate about global inequality. As its profile grew, the book prompted many thoughtful reviews and responses and sparked conversations everywhere from Twitter to cable TV. And then the backlash began, with pundits attacking Piketty’s footnotes as a means of discrediting his larger argument.
In a provocative op-ed in Quartz, Ford Foundation president Darren Walker explains what these inequality deniers have in common with climate change skeptics—and why we can’t afford to look away from the reality of both problems. “Given that inequality and climate change are two of the most significant challenges to humanity in this century, it is critical we see the debates surrounding them for what they truly are: enormous struggles over power and possibility,“ he writes.
Published in Quartz | June 16, 2014
You know Piketty is onto something when everyone’s trying to prove him wrong
During the last several weeks, Thomas Piketty’s magisterial Capital in the Twenty-First Century has earned great protestation on the heels of great praise. As the hits keep coming, I am reminded of the experience of another courageous, insightful truth-teller: Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose work the Rockefeller Foundation supported when I served there for much of the 2000s.
Many will remember that Pachauri and the IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore. Earlier that year, the panel’s so-called Fourth Assessment Report was the very first to demonstrate “unequivocally,” in its phrasing, that human activity is warming our world with worsening consequences.
And yet, by 2010 a number of pundits had taken to the talk shows and opinion pages—from the Financial Times to the New York Times—calling for his resignation.
More Information
- Read commentary on Piketty from the Washington Post, Forbes, and Paul Krugman in the New York Review of Books
- Learn more about Darren Walker
In this short clip from Meet the Press, Darren Walker talks about the parallels between inequality and climate change.
Since 2019, Ford has made all of our new multimedia fully accessible via Able Player, which allows users to access captions, audio descriptions, and interactive and accessible transcripts as well as to vary the playback speed. This video was created prior to our commitment.
Press Line
Tel (+1) 212-573-5128
Fax (+1) 212-351-3643
[email protected]
The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.