The Dignity Deficit: Inequality, Work, & Recognition

Thomas Piketty and Michael Sandel explore how inequality isn’t just about wealth—it’s about dignity. They discuss how economic structures fail to value workers without elite credentials and propose solutions that go beyond redistribution.

What does equality really mean, and why does it matter now more than ever? In this series of conversations, Nobel Prize-winning economist Thomas Piketty and philosopher Michael Sandel engage in a deep and urgent conversation about the roots of economic and social inequality. They explore how globalization, meritocracy, and capitalism have shaped our world—and what we can do to create a fairer future.

In this compelling dialogue, two of the world's most influential thinkers reflect on the value of equality and debate what citizens and governments should do to narrow the gaps that separate us. Ranging across economics, philosophy, history, and current affairs, Thomas Piketty and Michael Sandel consider how far we have come in achieving greater equality. At the same time, they confront head-on the extreme divides that remain in wealth, income, power, and status nationally and globally. What can be done at a time of deep political instability and environmental crisis? Piketty and Sandel agree on much: more inclusive investment in health and education, higher progressive taxation, curbing the political power of the rich and the overreach of markets. But how far and how fast can we push? Should we prioritize material or social change? What are the prospects for any change at all with nationalist forces resurgent? How should the left relate to values like patriotism and local solidarity where they collide with the challenges of mass migration and global climate change?

To see Piketty and Sandel grapple with these and other problems is to glimpse new possibilities for change and justice but also the stubborn truth that progress towards greater equality never comes quickly or without deep social conflict and political struggle.

Thomas Piketty is Professor of Economics at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales. Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University.

A 15 minute video worth watching....

https://youtu.be/bMg-1raozPA?si=eVD9Fe_E1F0SWA2i