Savage Mike
Department of Sociology, London School of Economcis and Political Science.
Br J Sociol. 2014 Dec;65(4):591-606. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12106.
This paper argues that Piketty's book should not simply be seen as that of an economist, but that it contains significant resources for sociologists to draw upon. These are firstly, this approach to social science and his use of visualizations which chime closely with recent claims about the power of description. Secondly I consider his conceptualization of time and history - which in rebutting epochal arguments about the speed of contemporary change allows for a much better appreciation of the 'long durée'; and finally his conceptualization of social classes and privilege through his elaboration of a sociology of accumulation and inheritance. In all these ways, Piketty's work assists in developing an account of elites and wealth which should be highly productive for future sociology.
本文认为，皮凯蒂的著作不应仅仅被视为一位经济学家的作品，而是包含了可供社会学家借鉴的重要资源。首先，他的社会科学研究方法以及对可视化的运用，与近期有关描述力量的观点高度契合。其次，我思考了他对时间和历史的概念化——在反驳关于当代变化速度的时代性观点时，这使得人们能够更好地理解“长时段”；最后，他通过阐述积累与继承的社会学，对社会阶级和特权进行了概念化。通过所有这些方式，皮凯蒂的著作有助于构建一种关于精英和财富的解释，这对未来的社会学研究应该具有很高的价值。
