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There are good reasons for preferring the concept of capitalism over that of "market economy." A capitalist economy is one that depends on the commercialization-through-monetarization of ever more social relations. The result is disequilibrium as the normal condition of a society placed under pressure by its "economy" for continuous reorganization in line with a need for ongoing capital accumulation. A capitalist society enlists the possessive individualism of its members as its principal...

The Polanyian expectation that disruptive marketization will lead to movements and policies that seek to 'embed' the market in society needs to be tempered by closer scrutiny to historical, religious and political contexts. This article studies how movements respond to marketization. The analysis proceeds through a comparison of the Turkish and Egyptian neoliberalizations, religious movements of the last decades, secular opposition, and finally recent processes, which have led to generally...

This article frames the failure of COP19 in Warsaw, the problems of the RIO+20 summit, the failure of the Copenhagen COP15, and the problems of the carbon markets within a broader legitimacy crisis of global governance, a consequence of the crisis of the global capitalist socio-ecology. Two mechanisms give rise to the loss of legitimacy: unequal development and mercantilization, or the reconfiguration of the power balance and the destruction of social ties. As a consequence, both winners and...

The expansion of extractive corporations’ overseas business opera-tions has led to serious concerns regarding human rights–related impacts. As these apprehensions grow, we see a countervailing rise in calls for government interven-tion and in levels of socially conscious shareholder advocacy. I focus on the latter as manifested in recent use of the shareholder proposal mechanism found in corporate law. Shareholder proposals, while under-theorized, provide a valuable lens through which to...

This article analyzes the social potential of regional integration processes by using the example of European integration. Recent case law from the ECJ has led some observers to argue that judicial decisions increasingly provide European politics with a ôPolanyianö drive. We test this claim by distinguishing three dimensions to European economic and social integration: market-restricting integration, market-enforcing integration, and the creation of a European area of nondiscrimination. We...

This contribution aims at exploring what is today the new "normal" in economic policy, namely, austerity. It must be read as a homage to Karl Polanyi, the first who understood the tragedy, and to Kari Polanyi-Levitt, who expanded on her father's thought. Austerity has nothing to do with old anticyclical or stabilizing policies. It is a permanent regime devoid of any sound foundations. It is a pure quasi-religious policy that is self-reinforcing. The author emphasizes the fundamental conflict...

An introduction is presented which discusses articles within the issue on topics including neoliberalism, the Austrian economist Karl Polanyi's perspective on the history of industrial society during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and free enterprise.

El Japón y la República de Corea acometieron a finales de los años noventa una serie de reformas del mercado de trabajo que se han presentado muchas veces como meramente flexibilizadoras. Sin embargo, el autor sostiene —sobre la base del concepto de «doble movimiento» de Polanyi— que los dos conjugaron las medidas liberalizadoras con otras en pos de la estabilidad social. Tras estudiar las leyes adoptadas por uno y otro para reformar su mercado de trabajo y atenuar la dualidad del mismo,...

Dès la fin des années 1990, le Japon et la Corée ont entrepris des réformes du marché du travail souvent présentées comme un simple processus d'assouplissement. Partant, toutefois, de la perspective du «double mouvement» de Polanyi, l'auteur étudie la façon dont ces pays ont intensifié leur recours au marché tout en recherchant la stabilité sociale. Passant en revue les mesures législatives liées à la libéralisation de l'emploi et à la garantie de revenus, il analyse les différentes méthodes...

ENG TITLE: Territory, innovation and sustainable development: towards a new conventional regime? ABSTRACT: The paper examines the increasing number of diverse local development initiatives around the world aiming to break away from the predominant economic system. These initiatives, we argue, despite a somewhat visible disparity, largely rest on relatively similar principles, values and references. We argue that they are effectively laying the foundation for a new conventional regime more...

The onset of the current global economic crisis was hailed by many as signalling the demise of neoliberal hegemony. Two years on however, neoliberalism appears to be quite durable. Indeed, after a brief period of Keynesian-type responses, states, on the whole, have embraced neoliberal solutions to the fiscal problems generated by the crisis. Greece, for example, is now following an IMF programme of privatisation and cuts to social expenditure, while other European nations are pursuing...

Low-wage migrant workers in the United States confront a perilous labor market, where wages are low, the risk of injury on the job is high, and the fear of apprehension by immigration authorities is widespread. There is increasing empirical evidence that civil society organizations are becoming involved in mediating labor-market problems, but work remains to be done in developing a robust theoretical conception of why such organizations are involved in this arena and how we might evaluate...

The recent economic crisis has once more underscored the close connection between markets and social life, thrusting this point at the centre of the analysis of economic and political activity and has once more asked the question of whether and how individuals are embedded in both. Here I argue that an analysis and partial reconciliation of the positions of F. A. Hayek and Karl Polanyi on the topic can help in this debate.

Bien que Karl Polanyi (1886-1964) n’ait jamais eu pour ambition « d’élaborer une théorie complète des institutions économiques », ce texte met en évidence qu’il y a, dans son œuvre, une analyse aussi implicite que profonde du marché appréhendé comme institution ou « processus institutionnalisé ». À l’encontre de la croyance économique conventionnelle, l’œuvre de Polanyi permet de comprendre que le marché, n’est ni spontané ni autorégulateur. Plus encore, à suivre Polanyi, le capitalisme ou...

This paper employs the concept of ‘social economy’ to reflect on the authors' experiences in rural reconstruction efforts in Mainland China, including work on peasant cooperatives and community-supported agriculture. In practice, the social and the economic can never be clearly separated. Economic problems, which may superficially appear to be independent, are in fact over-determined by all kinds of social and cultural factors, so a holistic perspective of ‘social economy’ is needed to...

This paper interprets Karl Polanyi through dialectical critical realism. The paper maintains that this interpretation offers Polanyi methodological coherence and philosophical support. It further provides dialectical critical realism with an exemplar of explanatory critique. It is argued that the social theory of Polanyi aims at the demystification of market-systems as they are theoretically constructed by both orthodox and heterodox accounts of capitalism. Dialectical critical realism is...

The article examines the ideology critical potentials of the concept of the embedded market, made famous by philosopher and economic historian Karl Polanyi. It explores several readings of this concept and assesses their ability to revive critical powers of sociology. It discusses the book "The New Spirit of Capitalism," by Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello, as a specific take on such an idea. It also offers a re-examination of Polanyi's interpretations of the embedded markets thesis.

RésuméLes disciplines économiques et anthropologiques, notamment africanistes, ont été généralement caractérisées par des exclusions et des cloisonnements. L’économie s’intéresse principalement aux sociétés marchandes et capitalistes occidentales et mobilise des catégories à vocation universelle alors que l’ethnologie ou l’anthropologie prennent pour champ les sociétés « primitives » exotiques ou premières, et privilégient les catégories et représentations des acteurs. Le champ du...

This article reviews sociological research about economic globalization’s impact on work and labor in developed and developing countries since the 1980s. We find that this period of neoliberal globalization influences work because of intensified activities of multinational corporations (MNCs), financialization of the global economy, and amplified prominence of international organizations, some of which diffuse neoliberal policy scripts while others mobilize a transnational civil society....

Although Karl Polanyi Studied a different epoch and focused on Europe, his ideas have inspired an outpouring of studies on contemporary problems and prospects in the neoliberal era. The bulk of these studies pertain to industrial countries or global economic issues. However, the human, environmental and financial impact of market deregulation is arguably more devastating in the ‘developing’ countries than in the core. A question thus arises: do Polanyi's reflections on progressive...