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Power relations are both material and intellectual. There is thus always a certain form of ideological indeterminacy and autonomy of the sphere of the ideas, in the sense that the politico-ideological positions of individuals are only partially determined by their social interests and their social class. In other words, conflicts of ideologies and programs matter by themselves. Power relations are a necessary condition for emancipatory historical change, but they are not a sufficient condition, especially if they are not based on a truly emancipatory programmatic and institutional foundation. These arguments are supported by responding to the texts in the Revue d’histoire moderne & contemporaine’s dossier on Capital and Ideology, investigating the history of the relationship between property, capital and social change in post-reform China, in California and Mexico in the 19th century, the French Revolution and the British colonial empire.