Agree or disagree with the aims and means of Occupy Wall Street, but the movement changed the way we think about our world forever.
For proof, look no further than the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos. Each year, the organization puts out a report indicating what it believes are the world's biggest risks.
For the past three years, income inequality has been the #1 global risk.
But prior to 2012, inequality wasn't even on the list. Those protests in 2011 clearly had a profound on global thinking, right up tot he elite level.
Check out the chart below, listing the top "global risks" discussed at Davos since 2007, and you'll see what we mean:
The World Economic Forum