Combating Inequality: Archaeology and the Production of Capital in the 21st Century

Americans are in the midst of an intense debate over inequality. As wealth and status become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, many are asking how this situation came to be. In a post Occupy Wall Street era, Thomas Piketty’s economic treatise Capital in the Twenty-First Century has topped the New York Times nonfiction Best Seller List. Moviegoers have flocked to economic documentaries, such as Robert Reich’s Inequality for All. And, television pundits refer frequently to the 1% and the 99%, a new shorthand for the haves and have-nots. Pierre Bourdieu has suggested that such inequity derives, in part, from the unequal distribution of capital, be it economic, cultural, or social. According to Bourdieu (1986: 83), capital is "a force inscribed in the objectivity of things so that everything is not equally possible or impossible." Participants in this session examine whether archaeology can combat some aspects of contemporary inequality by producing forms of capital that benefit the communities for which we work. By doing so, participants explore concrete ways practicing archaeology can promote public welfare and foster social change.