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This article reviews two books about the thoughts of economist Karl Polanyi including "The Life and Work of Karl Polanyi," edited by Kari Polanyi-Levitt, and "Karl Polanyi in Vienna: The Contemporary Significance of the Great Transformation," edited by Kenneth McRobbie and Polanyi-Levitt.

Mauss and Polanyi sketched the theoretical foundations of a pluralist approach to the economy and began a reflection on social change that was not satisfied with the ritual evocation of a reversal of the system. In other words, instead of an abstract call to an alternative economy, the concrete path of "altereconomies" opens the field of possibilities.

The paper seeks to investigate, from a methodological and ontological perspective, different ways of theorizing the third sphere--the set of activities that can be captured by neither the price mechanism of the markets nor by governmental transactions. The first aim is to elucidate the constitutive elements of the third sphere by deploying Polanyi's forms of integration (reciprocity, redistribution, and exchange). The second is to survey the ontologically individualist and methodologically...

This paper suggests that the firm can be analysed as a regulated system of contested sovereignty. The economic literature on the firm is categorised in terms of four different perspectives on sovereignty identified using the twin factors of power and authority. But rather than any single perspective being identified as analytically superior, it is argued that a system of contested sovereignty should be based on all four perspectives. Following this, a Polanyi-inspired analysis of firm...

The author critiques the expedient application of market valuation principles by the transnational corporations and other large firms in the Indian pharmaceutical industry on a number of issues like patents, pricing, irrational drugs, clinical trials, etc. He contends that ethics in business is chiseled and etched within the confines of particular social structures of accumulation. An ascendant neo-liberal social structure of accumulation has basically shaped these firms' sharp opposition to...

RésuméDifférents travaux ont délivré des méthodologies et des données quantifiant l’apport du bénévolat en temps et en argent. Ces préoccupations amènent, dans le sillage des travaux de Karl Polanyi, à appréhender l’économie de manière substantive comme la dépendance de l’homme par rapport à la nature et à ses semblables. Une telle analyse montre qu’il n’y a pas nécessairement une concurrence entre ces différents registres économiques mais qu’une hybridation des ressources peut se mettre en...

This article presents information on the construction of market institutions in Russia and includes the institutional conception provided by analyst Karl Polanyi. Polanyi's main ideas will be expounded in regard to his interest in analyzing the transition. These ideas will be adapted to the object of study and then specified so that they will be efficient criteria for analyzing the present economic transition. Second, the results obtained will be applied to the Russian case, and an attempt...

Explains the mired history of social and economic thinking that has culminated in the new capitalism. McQuaig argues that instead of shaping our society to fit the economy, we must shape the economy to fit the society we want. 2001.

The article replies to professor David Levine's rhetoric and reality in American welfare history. The author largely agrees with Professor Levine's conclusion that the impact of the application of the principles of 1834 on contemporary welfare reform is "far more potent rhetorically than it is in fact" (733) and that "the slowly expanding mild welfare state is here to stay" (741). Levine argues that this is the result of the emergence and persistence of a "New Deal consensus" regarding the...

'An excellent contribution to our understanding of the political construction of markets... This is a well-written book, enjoyable to read as well as being very informative. I view this volume as a 'must read' for all scholars and graduate students in the areas of government and business, the politics of market economies and comparative politics in general. Michelle Egan's description and explanation of market construction and its impact on business standards, regulation and governance will...

Vouloir débattre de questions d’économie politique, comme la présente revue et toute l’oeuvre de Karl Polanyi (1) nous y invitent, semble relever, à l’aube du XXIe siècle, d’une absolue gageure. Sur le plan académique, l’économie politique s’est métamorphosée en une « science » économique fondée sous le double sceau de l’individualisme méthodologique et de l’affirmation d’une dichotomie totale entre faits et valeurs. A l’inverse, l’anthropologie de Polanyi se fonde sur un socialisme...

The article focuses on the interpretation of consequences of Midwestern agricultural industrialization. The nature and consequences of the industrialization of agriculture are well documented in academic research and in the popular press. Interpretations of the process vary in reflection of the diverse perceptions of the nature and overall significance of industrialization. Suggested policies range from a "hands-off" to a "prohibit and prevent wherever possible" approach. Both approaches are...

Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation has had enormous influence since its publication in 1944. In form, this influence has been salutary: Polanyi targets one of the main weaknesses of modern economics. But in substance, Polanyi's influence has been baneful. Mirroring the methodological blindness he criticizes, Polanyi insists on the all-or-nothing existence/nonexistence of laissez faire--and on its all-or-nothing goodness/badness.

Those who believe that the free market is positively related to both economic efficiency and individual freedom are prone to regard resistance to the establishment of the global market essentially free from any serious sociopolitical constraint as a politically insignificant expression of impatience, ignorance, and hypocrisy. This article attempts to endow the manifestation of discontent with the status quo evident in public protests in Seattle and Washington DC with political significance...

Researcher Karl Polanyi's "forms of integration"--redistribution, reciprocity, and exchange--have been much used to describe and explain various economies. Such mapping presents information about the sources and destinations of the flows of material means in each society in ways that are easily correlated with the variables that most thoroughly and simply account for the flows of material means in different societies. Mapping may be looked upon as the selection of a "projection" for...

This inquiry seeks to establish that the writings of author Karl Polanyi offered insights into key variables and historical conditions that gave rise to the system we know of as “fascism.” Integral to his insights, Polanyi describes economic conditions attendant for fascism to emerge, with one condition noted as widespread and persistent unemployment. Polanyi stresses that fascism needs to be understood as reactionary, a responding to features integral to classical liberalism. Considering a...

Digital capitalism’s information infrastructure is the subject of contentious debates concerning its transformative effects on the political economy and society. A frequent proposition, referring to older arguments of the ‘socialist calculation debate’, is that with big data analytics the pro-market arguments of neoliberal economists such as Hayek or Mises become obsolete. This article critically examines this proposition by drawing on Karl Polanyi’s notion of overview; a core theme in his...