1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook on Karl Polanyi
Karl Polanyi is one of the most influential social scientists of our era. A report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) begins by noting that we are in a "Polanyi era": a time of dangerously unregulated markets, where the greatest need for decisive political action is matched by the least trust in politics.
This handbook provides a comprehensive of recent research on Polanyi’s work and ideas, including the central place occupied by his thinking on the relationship between economics and politics. The stellar line-up of contributors to this book explore Polanyi’s work reflecting the intrinsic interdisciplinarity of Polanyi’s approach to understanding our society, its place in history, its fundamental dynamics, and its contradictions, as well as the methodological issues he raises.
The handbook broadly follows a chronological structure beginning with influences on Polanyi, his formative experiences and early works. A significant section is dedicated to Polanyi’s seminal work, The Great Transformation, and its impact. Further sections also look at Polanyi’s wider influence, on various disciplines and methodological debates, and his ongoing relevance for present-day issues including debates on populism, neoliberalism and low carbon transitions.
This handbook is a vital resource for students and scholars of economics, politics, sociology, and other social sciences.
List of contributors
Preface
Part 1: Polanyi’s early training
1. Károly Polányi’s Hungary
János Gyurgyák
2. On the edge of Austro-Marxism
Diego De Bernardin Stadoan
3. The socialist calculation debate and the problem of modern civilization
Claus Thomasberger
Part 2: The ‘Great Transformation’
I . In theory
4. Polanyi and neoliberalism
Bob Jessop
5. Twenty-first-century capitalism between embeddedness and disembeddedness: Karl Polanyi and beyond
Cristiano Fonseca Monteiro and Raphael Jonathas da Costa Lima
6. Antimonies of the ‘double movement’: From Polanyi to the Polanyi debate
Eren Duzgun
7. Markets, Protectionism and Self-Regulation: A key to the ‘Great Transformation’
Hannes Lacher
II . Its history
8. The League of Nations’ program ‘Financial Reconstruction of Austria’ and Polanyi’s economic and political theory
Maria Markantonatou
9. The World Economic Crisis of the 1930s. Polanyi’s analysis of the Great Depression, and the current global crisis
Kari Polanyi Levitt
10. Observing the transformation. Polanyi’s writings in the interwar period
Michele Cangiani
11. Polanyi’s unorthodox contribution to the study of fascism
Kris Millett and Sang Hun Lim
12. Karl Polanyi and the ‘international civil war’: The analysis of a lucid witness and interpreter of his time
Francesco Soverina
13. Karl Polanyi’s idea of co-existence: War and peace in the international frames of politics and economy in the interwar period
Chikako Nakayama
14. After World War II: Universal capitalism or regional planning?
Claus Thomasberger
Part 3: Historical and anthropological studies
15. Polanyi’s anthropological insights: a comparative-holistic approach
Justin A. Elardo
16. Karl Polanyi and the study of the Ancient Mediterranean and Western Asia
David Tandy
17. Karl Polanyi on money
Jérôme Maucourant
Part 4: Methodology and political philosophy
18. Freedom and socialism
Michael Brie
19. Polanyi versus Hayek. The problem of freedom and democracy in the market society
Paula Valderrama
20. Marx and Polanyi: A philosophical encounter
Hüseyin Özel
21. Polanyi reads Marx
Michele Cangiani
22. Polanyi’s institutionalism between the lines
Sabine Frerichs
23. Karl Polanyi’s institutionalist approach and its contemporary value for the social sciences
Giorgio Resta
24. How theories shape, and are shaped by history
Chaitawat Boonjubun and Asad Zaman
25. Making interdependence Übersichtlich: Reading Polanyi through a (neo)republican Lens
Louis Mosar
Part 5: Current problems and debates
26. Where Polanyi is more relevant than ever: Social justice and technical productivity in scientific knowledge production
Emrah Irzik and Gürol Irzik
27. Chronicler of the interregnum. Karl Polanyi and the War in Ukraine
Florin Poenaru
28. The double movement in the Global South: Critiques, extensions, and new horizons
Geoff Goodwin
29. The ecological thought of Karl Polanyi and his contribution to ecological economics
Federico Zuberman
30. Karl Polanyi in the transition to a low-carbon and biodiverse society
Peadar Kirby
31. Ecosocialist freedom through participatory democratic planning
Pat Devine
Index
Biography
Michele Cangiani, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia, Italy
Claus Thomasberger, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany
“Karl Polanyi made seminal contributions to political economy, social theory, and anthropology, as well as providing a running commentary on the epochal changes that were unfolding in his time. This collection of essays explores his ideas on a multitude of topics—fascism, science and technology, institutionalism, and all points in between. Comprehensive in coverage and expertly curated, this is a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on Polanyi’s life and work.”
Gareth Dale, Reader in Political Economy at Brunel University, London
“This collection of articles by leading Polanyi scholars transcends disciplinary boundaries. By addressing the wide range of issues that preoccupied Polanyi over a lifetime, readers will also discover their remarkable coherence. Throughout his writings, Polanyi insisted upon the societal consequences of disembedding the economy from society. Today, the urgent need to rethink the relationship between the economy, society and nature, draws upon the work of Karl Polanyi. This handbook is not only a major contribution to Polanyi scholarship; it is major contribution to an intellectual counter-movement to the dominant paradigm.”
Marguerite Mendell, Director of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy, Concordia University, Montreal
“This handbook is a timely contribution to ongoing debates of putting the economy in its place. It compiles contributions by renown scholars debating key Polanyian concepts as well as exploring Polanyian insights for better understanding contemporary political economy. A must-read for scholars researching ongoing multiple crises and societal transformations.”
Andreas Novy, President of the International Karl Polanyi Society, WU Vienna University of Economics
