Peter Ross <Petros.Listig@fdrive.com.au> wrote:
I have read _about_ the book but not the book yet.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gild...
I grew up with "Communist" education and that included a lot of Marx and Engels.
I have to admit, some of it still seems to be the most logic description of the inner workings of capitalism (the construction of a Communist society as a way out has some serious flaws - but that's a different matter)
AFAIK, Marxism is not dead in the teaching of economics.
Correct.
Is Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" a book in that mould or does it differ a lot?
I'm still reading it, but, broadly, it's based on careful, long-term statistical analysis - the author is quite critical of Marx's methods and conclusions.
I wonder sometimes how much people know and reflect where the 40 hours week, holidays, sick pay etc. come from. E.g. what is the Eight Hour Monument about?
Achievements in human rights tend to be taken for granted after a while, even by those who benefit.