Polanyi Methodology
Published in WEA Journal: Economic Thought: Cite as:
Zaman, A. (2016) ‘The Methodology of Polanyi’s Great Transformation.’ Economic Thought, 5.1, pp. 44-63.
Related Papers:
Unregulated Markets & the Transformation of Society Chapter 18 for Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics: Nature and Society. Editor Clive Spash. Revised 20th December 2015 [earlier drafts had title Markets & Society].
“The Rise and Fall of the Market Economy,” Review of Islamic Economics, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2010, pp. 123–155. Reprinted in Chapter 2 ofCivilization & Values:Open Civilization – Istanbul Approach eds: M Yalçintaş, I Kurulay, and R. Şentürk, Istanbul: ICOC, p140-17
The Methodology of Polanyi's Great Transformation
Abstract: Polanyi’s book on The Great Transformation provides an analysis of the emergence and significance of capitalist economic structures which differs radically from those currently universally taught in economic textbooks. This analysis is based on a methodological approach which is also radically different from existing methodologies for doing economics, and more generally social science. This methodology is used by Polanyi without explicit articulation. Our goal in this article is to articulate the methodology used in this book to bring out the several dimensions on which it differs from current approaches to social science. Among the key differences, Polanyi provides substantial scope for human agency and capabilities to change the course of history. He also shows that the social, political and economic spheres of human existence are deeply interlinked and cannot be analyzed in isolation, as current approaches assume.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 2
2. An Institutional Perspective................................................................................................... 2
3. The Spirit of History............................................................................................................... 3
4. Methodological Communitarianism....................................................................................... 4
4.1 Individual Behavior Shaped by Society............................................................................ 4
4.2 History Is Shaped by Groups.......................................................................................... 5
5 Beyond Class Struggle........................................................................................................... 6
5.1 Emergence of a Group Interest...................................................................................... 6
5.2 External Circumstances may determine outcomes.......................................................... 7
5.3 Acting Across Class Interests......................................................................................... 7
5.4 External Causes Drive Social Change............................................................................... 9
6. Interlinkage of Social, Political and Economic Spheres............................................................. 9
7. Theories & Learning from Historical Experience.................................................................... 10
8. False Theories Shape Our Future......................................................................................... 12
8.1 The Commodification of Human Lives................................................................................. 13
8.2 Commodification of Land................................................................................................... 16
9. Dynamics of Social Change................................................................................................... 16
10. Conclusions..................................................................................................................... 18
References................................................................................................................................. 19
1.
References used in writing this paper are collected HERE. For a compact summary of the book, The Great Transformation, by Polanyi, see:
Zaman, Asad: “The Rise and Fall of the Market Economy,” Review of Islamic Economics, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2010, pp. 123–155
For an illustration of point 7, see The Constructions of Economic Inequality: by RICHARD GOLDIN
Unregulated Markets and the Transformation of Society - Related paper, published in Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics