Ignorance, denial, internalisation, and transcendence: A post-structural perspective on Polanyi's double movement

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ignorance, denial, internalisation, and transcendence

T2 - A post-structural perspective on Polanyi's double movement

AU - Holmes, Christopher

PY - 2013/4

Y1 - 2013/4

N2 - In this article, I suggest what an engagement between post-structuralism and the work of Karl Polanyi might look like. I do this by presenting a reading of Polanyi's concept of 'double movement' as a form of problematisation through binary opposition. I suggest that the central opposition that the double movement depicts - between economy and society as reflected in processes of marketisation and social protection - presents itself in such a way that the problems emanating from the opposition can only be solved through its transcendence. On one hand, the terms of transcendence are limited by the terms of the opposition. On the other hand, since transcendence is never reached, the double movement problematisation stabilises the existence of a lacuna between the lived experience of market society and the discursive field of that market society. As such, the form of the problematisation places a double-limit upon the ways in which 'solutions' can be presented. I present this thesis in relation to two instances of double movement discussed by Polanyi in his book, The Great Transformation. I then apply the argument to invocations of the economy-society opposition in contemporary political economic discourse, where it remains as ubiquitous as ever.

AB - In this article, I suggest what an engagement between post-structuralism and the work of Karl Polanyi might look like. I do this by presenting a reading of Polanyi's concept of 'double movement' as a form of problematisation through binary opposition. I suggest that the central opposition that the double movement depicts - between economy and society as reflected in processes of marketisation and social protection - presents itself in such a way that the problems emanating from the opposition can only be solved through its transcendence. On one hand, the terms of transcendence are limited by the terms of the opposition. On the other hand, since transcendence is never reached, the double movement problematisation stabilises the existence of a lacuna between the lived experience of market society and the discursive field of that market society. As such, the form of the problematisation places a double-limit upon the ways in which 'solutions' can be presented. I present this thesis in relation to two instances of double movement discussed by Polanyi in his book, The Great Transformation. I then apply the argument to invocations of the economy-society opposition in contemporary political economic discourse, where it remains as ubiquitous as ever.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84875908113&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S0260210512000320

DO - 10.1017/S0260210512000320

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:84875908113

SN - 0260-2105

VL - 39

SP - 273

EP - 290

JO - Review of International Studies

JF - Review of International Studies

IS - 2

ER -