Italian academic Clara E. Mattei points out that capitalism has been the guiding social system for a miniscule slice of human history, yet its role in organising our lives seems to be beyond questioning.

Professor Mattei, who lectures in the United States, urges readers to question more rigorously a system that increasingly leaves people in a form of economic servitude to the winners in the increased economic disparity taking grip on the world.

The book covers the austerity measures that were implemented in much of the industrialised world in the early 2000s, and the damage they wrought on working people. Professor Mattei also talks about measures of austerity imposed on developing economies that are already struggling to create economic systems that generate higher living standards for their populations.

The book covers the Israel-Palestine divide, claiming it mirrors the gap elsewhere on the planet between rich and poor countries.

Other issues addressed include the requirement to have a pool of unemployed people in the system to suppress wage growth and the anti-democratic nature of central banks doing all they can to keep inflation low, regardless of the effects on the rest of the economy.

Rather than just shaking her fist at an unjust world, Professor Mattei looks at smaller-scale economic models in countries such as Brazil that have bucked the trend and looked beyond capitalism to provide people with a more equal social system.