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"All human societies, from prehistory through to today, have been characterized by some degree of economic inequality. Arguably, complex societies would not have thrived if they had been unable to concentrate and redistribute resources effectively. We frequently talk about the top 5% or 1% today but, as Guido Alfani explains in this book, concerns about the rich and super-rich and their potential to influence contemporary politics and society are nothing new - just take the Medici family and Renaissance Tuscany as one example. The medieval theologian Nicole Oresme's fear of the super-rich individual acting "as God among men" resonates with much of what present-day economist Thomas Piketty cautioned against in his landmark Capital in the Twentieth Century. As Gods Among Men represents the first scholarly attempt to provide a general overview of role and significance of the rich and the super-rich in the long run of history. With a focus on the West, particularly Europe and North America, Alfani's research spans a thousand years of history. He draws from a wealth of comparative data, as well as insights gleaned from the latest research in economic history, sociology, and anthropology, to show how society's problematic relationship with the super-rich cannot be fully understood without a careful analysis of the ways in which they have built their enormous wealth, and how they have used that wealth to gain influence. Alfani highlights important aspects of their behavior, such as their attitudes toward saving and consumption, or their propensity to act as patrons of the arts and of the sciences or as benefactors of the weakest part of society, to build up a profile of the richest members of our society and to trace patterns throughout history, underlining elements of both continuity and change over the period"-- "How the rich and the super-rich throughout Western history accumulated their wealth, behaved (or misbehaved) and helped (or didn't help) their communities in times of crisis The rich have always fascinated, sometimes in problematic ways. Medieval thinkers feared that the super-rich would act "as gods among men"; much more recently Thomas Piketty made wealth central to discussions of inequality. In this book, Guido Alfani offers a history of the rich and super-rich in the West, examining who they were, how they accumulated their wealth and what role they played in society. Covering the last thousand years, with frequent incursions into antiquity, and integrating recent research on economic inequality, Alfani finds-despite the different paths to wealth in different eras-fundamental continuities in the behaviour of the rich and public attitudes towards wealth across Western history. His account offers a novel perspective on current debates about wealth and income disparity.Alfani argues that the position of the rich and super-rich in Western society has always been intrinsically fragile; their very presence has inspired social unease. In the Middle Ages, an excessive accumulation of wealth was considered sinful; the rich were expected not to appear to be wealthy. Eventually, the rich were deemed useful when they used their wealth to help their communities in times of crisis. Yet in the twenty-first century, Alfani points out, the rich and the super-rich-their wealth largely preserved through the Great Recession and COVID-19-have been exceptionally reluctant to contribute to the common good in times of crisis, rejecting even such stopgap measures as temporary tax increases. History suggests that this is a troubling development-for the rich, and for everyone else"--

World history --- anno 1200-1799 --- anno 1800-1999 --- Rich people --- History. --- A History of the Rich in the West. --- As Gods Among Men. --- Guido Alfani. --- Wealth. --- affluence. --- consumption habits. --- economic elites. --- economic history. --- economic inequality. --- history of rich. --- income inequality. --- influence. --- one-percenters. --- social history. --- social inequality. --- social mobility. --- super-rich. --- wealth concentration. --- wealth elite. --- wealth inequality. --- western history. --- History --- Economics.

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Sponsors --- Kinship --- Christianity --- Parrains et marraines --- Parenté --- Christianisme --- History. --- Religious aspects --- Christianity. --- Social aspects --- History --- Histoire --- Aspect religieux --- Aspect social --- Church history --- Europe --- Church history. --- Social science --- General. --- Social History. --- Sociology --- Marriage & Family. --- 265.17 --- -Kinship --- -Christianity --- Religions --- Ethnology --- Clans --- Consanguinity --- Families --- Kin recognition --- Godfathers --- Godmothers --- Godparents --- Baptism --- Confirmation --- Doopsel: doopplechtigheden; peters; meters --- -Christianity. --- -History. --- -Doopsel: doopplechtigheden; peters; meters --- 265.17 Doopsel: doopplechtigheden; peters; meters --- -265.17 Doopsel: doopplechtigheden; peters; meters --- Parenté --- Persons --- -Godfathers --- Religious aspects -&delete& --- Social aspects -&delete& --- -Ethnology --- -History --- Kinship - Religious aspects - Christianity - History. --- Kinship - Europe - History. --- Church history - Modern period, 1500 --- -Europe - Church history.

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Property --- Property. --- Reichtum. --- Reichtum. --- Vermögen. --- Vermögen. --- Wealth --- Wealth. --- History --- History --- Geschichte 1400-1850. --- Geschichte 1400-1850. --- Italien. --- Italien. --- Italy.

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"This book deals with a variety of topics about inequality in the long run covering eight different countries in Europe and dealing with rural inequality before the end of the 18th century. Studies dealing with inequality in European societies have multiplied in recent years. It has now become clear that pressing questions about the historical trends showing both income and wealth inequality as well as the factors leading to an increase or drop of inequality over time, could be answered only by taking into account preindustrial times. Therefore, this book deals with inequality in the long-run, covering and comparing a very long time span, starting its investigations in the later middle ages and ending before the nineteenth century, the period that marks the beginning of most available studies. Hitherto, urban distribution of income and wealth is much better known than rural inequality. This book intends to reduce this gap in knowledge, bringing rural inequality to the fore of research. Since at least until the nineteenth century the majority of people were country men, looking at the rural areas is crucial when trying to identify the underlying causes of inequality trends in the long run of history. The book consists of nine original papers and deals with a variety of topics about inequality covering no less than eight different countries in Europe. The majority of the studies published in this book are the result of teamwork between European universities where a range of research centres are currently exploring different aspects of income and wealth inequality in preindustrial times." -- Provided by publisher.

Economic geography.