Knowra Karl Polanyi Karl Polanyi Karl Polanyi (1886–1964) was a Hungarian-Austrian economic historian and social theorist. His work argued that markets are embedded in society and challenged the idea of a self-regulating market economy.
Embeddedness : The idea that economic activity is organized within social relationships and institutions. Polanyi used this concept to contrast earlier economies with market society.
The Great Transformation : Karl Polanyi’s 1944 book on the rise of market society and the political crises of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It develops his account of market expansion, social protection, and fascism.
Friedrich Hayek : An Austrian-born economist and political philosopher who defended market coordination and criticized extensive state planning. His defense of markets offers a prominent counterpoint to Polanyi’s historical critique.
Embedded liberalism : The postwar arrangement combining international trade liberalization with domestic economic management and social protections. It is often read as a political settlement resembling Polanyi’s demand to contain markets socially.
Fictitious commodities : Land, labor, and money, which markets treat as commodities despite not being produced for sale. Polanyi argued that exposing these to market pricing threatens social life.
Speenhamland system : An English poor-relief arrangement associated with wage supplements tied to bread prices, used from the late eighteenth century. Polanyi presented it as a contested episode in the transition toward a labor market.
Ludwig von Mises : An Austrian economist who argued that market prices and private property enable rational economic calculation. His defense of market coordination contrasts with Polanyi’s account of its social limits.
Globalization : The intensification of cross-border flows of goods, capital, people, information, and culture. Polanyi’s account is frequently applied to the social and political reactions to global market integration.
Self-regulating market : An economic system in which prices and production are coordinated primarily through markets with limited intervention. Polanyi challenged the notion that such a system could operate independently of society.
Gold standard : A monetary system that defines a currency’s value in terms of a fixed quantity of gold. Polanyi linked its international discipline to the political strains preceding the world wars.
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