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Karl Paul Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Károly ; 25 October 1886 – 23 April 1964),''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2003) vol 9. p. 554 was an Austro-Hungarian economic anthropologist and politician, best known for his book '' The Great Transformation,'' which questions the conceptual validity of self-regulating markets. In his writings, Polanyi advances the concept of the
Double Movement The Double Movement is a concept originating with Karl Polanyi in his book '' The Great Transformation''. The phrase refers to the dialectical process of marketization and push for social protection against that marketization. First, laissez-faire ...
, which refers to the
dialectical Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...
process of
marketization Marketisation or marketization is a restructuring process that enables state enterprises to operate as market-oriented firms by changing the legal environment in which they operate. This is achieved through reduction of state subsidies, organizati ...
and push for
social protection Social protection, as defined by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, is concerned with preventing, managing, and overcoming situations that adversely affect people's well-being. Social protection consists of policies and ...
against that marketization. He argues that market-based societies in modern Europe were not inevitable but historically contingent. Polanyi is remembered best as the originator of
substantivism Substantivism is a position, first proposed by Karl Polanyi in his work '' The Great Transformation'' (1944), which argues that the term 'economics' has two meanings. The formal meaning, used by today's neoclassical economists, refers to economics ...
, a cultural version of economics, which emphasizes the way economies are embedded in society and culture. This opinion is counter to
mainstream economics Mainstream economics is the body of knowledge, theories, and models of economics, as taught by universities worldwide, that are generally accepted by economists as a basis for discussion. Also known as orthodox economics, it can be contrasted to h ...
but is popular in
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
,
economic history Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and ins ...
,
economic sociology Economic sociology is the study of the social cause and effect of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one, known as "new economic sociology". The classical period was concerned ...
and
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
. Polanyi's approach to the ancient economies has been applied to a variety of cases, such as
Pre-Columbian America In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
and ancient
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
, although its utility to the study of ancient societies in general has been questioned. Polanyi's ''The Great Transformation'' became a model for
historical sociology Historical sociology is an interdisciplinary field of research that combines sociological and historical methods to understand the past, how societies have developed over time, and the impact this has on the present. It emphasises a mutual lin ...
. His theories eventually became the foundation for the
economic democracy Economic democracy is a socioeconomic philosophy that proposes to shift decision-making power from corporate managers and corporate shareholders to a larger group of public stakeholders that includes workers, customers, suppliers, neighbour ...
movement. Polanyi was active in politics, and helped found the National Citizens' Radical Party in 1914, serving as its secretary.


Early life

Polanyi was born into a Jewish family. His younger brother was
Michael Polanyi Michael Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Mihály; 11 March 1891 – 22 February 1976) was a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy. He argued that positivism supplies ...
, a
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
, and his niece was
Eva Zeisel Eva Striker Zeisel (born Éva Amália Striker, November 13, 1906 – December 30, 2011) was a Hungarian-born American industrial designer known for her work with ceramics, primarily from the period after she immigrated to the United States. Her f ...
, a world-renowned ceramist. He was born in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, at the time the capital of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. His father, Mihály Pollacsek, was a railway entrepreneur. Mihály never changed the name ''Pollacsek'', and is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Budapest. Mihály died in January 1905, which was an emotional shock to Karl, and he commemorated the anniversary of Mihály's death throughout his life. Karl and Michael Polanyi's mother was Cecília Wohl. The name change to Polanyi (not von Polanyi) was made by Karl and his siblings. Polanyi was well educated despite the ups and downs of his father's fortune, and he immersed himself in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
's active intellectual and artistic scene.


Early career

Polanyi founded the radical and influential
Galileo Circle The Galileo Circle (''Galilei Kör'') was an atheist-materialist student organization that functioned in Budapest between 1908 and 1919. Their center was located at the Anker Köz in Terézváros, Budapest. The circle had several subgroups with f ...
while at the
University of Budapest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
, a club which would have far reaching effects on Hungarian intellectual thought. During this time, he was actively engaged with other notable thinkers, such as
György Lukács György Lukács (born György Bernát Löwinger; hu, szegedi Lukács György Bernát; german: Georg Bernard Baron Lukács von Szegedin; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, critic, and ae ...
,
Oszkár Jászi Oszkár Jászi (born Oszkár Jakobuvits; 2 March 1875 – 13 February 1957), also known in English as Oscar Jászi, was a Hungarian social scientist, historian, and politician. Early life Oszkár Jászi was born in Nagykároly on March 2, 187 ...
, and
Karl Mannheim Karl Mannheim (born Károly Manheim, 27 March 1893 – 9 January 1947) was an influential Hungarian sociologist during the first half of the 20th century. He is a key figure in classical sociology, as well as one of the founders of the sociolo ...
. Polanyi graduated from Budapest University in 1912 with a doctorate in
Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
. In 1914, he helped found the National Citizens' Radical Party of Hungary and served as its secretary. Polanyi was a
cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
officer in the
Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...
in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, in active service at the Russian Front and hospitalized in Budapest. Polanyi supported the republican government of
Mihály Károlyi Count Mihály Ádám György Miklós Károlyi de Nagykároly ( hu, gróf nagykárolyi Károlyi Mihály Ádám György Miklós; archaically English: Michael Adam George Nicholas Károlyi, or in short simple form: Michael Károlyi; 4 March 1875 ...
and its
Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
regime. The republic was short-lived, however, and when
Béla Kun Béla Kun (born Béla Kohn; 20 February 1886 – 29 August 1938) was a Hungarian communist revolutionary and politician who governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919. After attending Franz Joseph University at Kolozsvár (today Cluj-Napoc ...
toppled the Karolyi government to create the
Hungarian Soviet Republic The Socialist Federative Republic of Councils in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szocialista Szövetséges Tanácsköztársaság) (due to an early mistranslation, it became widely known as the Hungarian Soviet Republic in English-language sources ( ...
Polanyi left for Vienna.


In Vienna

From 1924 to 1933, he was employed as a senior editor of the prestigious ''
Der Österreichische Volkswirt ''Der Österreichische Volkswirt'' (also known as ''ÖVW''; German: ''The Austrian Economist'') was an economics and political magazine published between 1908 and 1998 with an interruption from 1939 to 1945 in Vienna, Austria. It was the first b ...
'' (''The Austrian Economist'') magazine. It was at this time that he first began criticizing the
Austrian School The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian school ...
of economists, who he felt created abstract models which lost sight of the organic, interrelated reality of economic processes. Polanyi himself was attracted to
Fabianism The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fab ...
and the works of
G. D. H. Cole George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, and historian. As a believer in common ownership of the means of production, he theorised guild socialism (production organised ...
. It was also during this period that Polanyi grew interested in
Christian socialism Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...
. He married the communist revolutionary Ilona Duczyńska, of Polish-Hungarian background. Their daughter
Kari Polanyi Levitt Kari Polanyi Levitt (born June 14, 1923 in Vienna, Austria)''Biography'' (Kari Polanyi Levitt website. http://www.karipolanyilevitt.com/biography/.) is a Canadian economist, currently Emerita Professor of Economics at McGill University, Montreal. S ...
carried on the family tradition of economic academic research.


In London

Polanyi was asked to resign from ''Der Oesterreichische Volkswirt'' because the liberal publisher of the journal could not keep on a prominent socialist after the accession of Hitler to office in January 1933 and the suspension of the Austrian parliament by the rising tide of clerical fascism in Austria. He left for London in 1933, where he earned a living as a journalist and tutor and obtained a position as a lecturer for the
Workers' Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...
in 1936. His lecture notes contained the research for what later became '' The Great Transformation''. However, he would not start writing this work until 1940, when he moved to
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
to take up a position at
Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
. The book was published in 1944, to great acclaim. In it, Polanyi described the
enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
process in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and the creation of the contemporary economic system at the beginning of the 19th century.


United States and Canada

Polanyi joined the staff of
Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
in 1940, teaching a series of five timely lectures on the "Present Age of Transformation.". The lectures "The Passing of the 19th Century", "The Trend Towards an Integrated Society", "The Breakdown of the International System", "Is America an Exception" and "Marxism and the Inner History of the Russian Revolution" took place during the early stages of World War II. Polanyi participated in Bennington's Humanism Lecture Series (1941) and
Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
's Lecture Series (1943) where his topic was "
Jean Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
: Or Is a Free Society Possible?" After the war, Polanyi received a teaching position at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
(1947–1953). However, his wife, Ilona Duczyńska (1897–1978), had a background as a former
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, which made gaining an entrance visa in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
impossible. As a result, they moved to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and Polanyi commuted to New York City. In the early 1950s, Polanyi received a large grant from the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
to study the economic systems of ancient empires. Having described the emergence of the modern economic system, Polanyi now sought to understand how "the economy" emerged as a distinct sphere in the distant past. His seminar at Columbia drew several famous scholars and influenced a generation of teachers, resulting in the 1957 volume ''Trade and Market in the Early Empires''. Polanyi continued to write in his later years and established a new journal entitled ''Coexistence''. In
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
he lived in Pickering,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, where he died in 1964.


Selected works

* "Socialist Accounting" (1922) * ''The Essence of Fascism'' (1933–1934); article * '' The Great Transformation'' (1944) * "Universal Capitalism or Regional Planning?", ''The London Quarterly of World Affairs'', vol. 10 (3) (1945) * ''Trade and Market in the Early Empires'' (1957, edited and with contributions by others) * ''Dahomey and the Slave Trade'' (1966) * George Dalton (ed), ''Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economics: Essays of Karl Polanyi'' (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1968); collected essays and selections from his work. * Harry W. Pearson (ed.), ''The Livelihood of Man'' (Academic Press, 1977) * Karl Polanyi, ''For a New West: Essays, 1919–1958'' (Polity Press, 2014), *Gareth Dale (ed), ''Karl Polanyi'': ''The Hungarian Writings'' (Manchester University Press, 2016)


See also

*
Michael Polanyi Michael Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Mihály; 11 March 1891 – 22 February 1976) was a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy. He argued that positivism supplies ...
(brother) *
John Polanyi John Charles Polanyi ( hu, Polányi János Károly; born 23 January 1929) is a German-born Canadian chemist. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in chemical kinetics. Polanyi was born into the prominent Hungari ...
(nephew) *
Eva Zeisel Eva Striker Zeisel (born Éva Amália Striker, November 13, 1906 – December 30, 2011) was a Hungarian-born American industrial designer known for her work with ceramics, primarily from the period after she immigrated to the United States. Her f ...
(cousin)


Notes


References

* * *Dale, Gareth (2016), ''Reconstructing Karl Polanyi'', Pluto Press, ISBN 978-0745335186 * * * * * * * *


Further reading

*
Robert Kuttner Robert L. Kuttner (; born April 17, 1943) is an American journalist and writer whose works present a liberal/progressive point of view. Kuttner is the co-founder and current co-editor of ''The American Prospect'', which was created in 1990 as a ...
, "The Man from Red Vienna" (review of Gareth Dale, ''Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left'',
Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
, 381 pp.), ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', vol. LXIV, no. 20 (21 December 2017), pp. 55–57. "In sum, Polanyi got some details wrong, but he got the big picture right. Democracy cannot survive an excessively
free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...
; and containing the market is the task of
politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
. To ignore that is to court
fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
. (Robert Kuttner, p. 57.)


External links


Karl Polanyi Digital Archive

The Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
– The Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy at Concordia University web site.
Karl Polanyi Wiki

Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (1944) Review Essay by Anne Mayhew, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tennessee


– On the History of Economic Thought Website
The free market is an impossible utopia
(2014-07-18), ''The Washington Post''. A conversation with Fred Block and
Margaret Somers Margaret R. Somers is an American sociologist and Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Michigan She is the recipient of the inaugural Lewis A. Coser Award for Innovation and Theoretical Agenda-Setting in Sociology, Somers's wor ...
on their book, ''The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyi’s Critique'' (Harvard University Press, 2014). The book argues that the ideas of Karl Polanyi are crucial to help understand economic recessions and their aftermath.

– Why Two Karls Are Better Than One: Integrating Polyani and Marx in a
Critical Theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
of the Current Crisis by
Nancy Fraser Nancy Fraser (; born May 20, 1947) is an American philosopher, critical theorist, feminist, and the Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science and professor of philosophy at The New School in New York City.Jadžić, Milo ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Polanyi, Karl 1886 births 1964 deaths 20th-century anthropologists 20th-century Hungarian economists 20th-century essayists 20th-century Hungarian historians 20th-century Hungarian philosophers Austro-Hungarian Jews Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery Cultural critics Economic historians Historical school economists Columbia University faculty Hungarian anthropologists Hungarian Christian socialists Hungarian essayists Hungarian expatriates in Austria Hungarian nobility Hungarian socialists Hungarian sociologists Jewish historians Jewish philosophers Jewish sociologists Jewish anthropologists Liberal socialism People from Pickering, Ontario Philosophers of culture Philosophers of economics Philosophers of history Philosophers of social science
Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austria ...
Social critics Social philosophers Socialist economists Writers from Vienna Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss