Titans of Capital

A fascinating examination of the rapid concentration of global capital, with chapters that focus on China and Russia.

In Titans of Capital, Peter Phillips, a political sociologist, poses three key research questions: To what extent do the wealthy influence—or even dominate—decision making that affects all of us in society? Who are the most powerful people? And how does the accumulation of capital work?

Networks of wealthy individuals have evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic, and Titans of Capital shows how the financial investments of transnational elites threaten human rights and the future of the planet. Phillips warns that while continued concentration of global capital increases the profits enjoyed by the global economy's "Titans,", it also increases global inequality, starvation, and civil unrest, threatening the lives of the hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty. It is imperative to ask how we can reverse the concentration of Titan wealth and revitalize grassroots democracy unbridled by extreme wealth. Identifying 117 global Titans by name and exposing the networks and interests that unite them provides listeners opposed to militarism and committed to economic equality with crucial tools to directly engage the power elite who endanger life on earth.