Problems and opportunities in Polanyian analysis today

Christopher Holmes*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The three books under review in this article all demonstrate the beginnings of a shift in the tone of literature on or derived from the work of Karl Polanyi. On one hand, the authors all show a willingness to admit a variety of problems and weaknesses in his work. But on the other hand, it is precisely this degree of critical introspection that enables the authors under review to identify some of the most important and contemporarily relevant aspects of Polanyi's thought. In the two main sections of this article - on Polanyi's concepts of 'embeddedness' and 'double movement' - I define the problems highlighted in previous iterations of Polanyian literature, moving on to examine how the texts under review address those problems, laying particular emphasis on the ideational components of Polanyi's thought. I conclude by suggesting future directions for Polanyian scholarship, mooting the possibility of a distinctively 'post-Polanyian' perspective in which ideas, discourse and framing are placed centre stage.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)468-484
Number of pages17
JournalECONOMY AND SOCIETY
Volume41
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2012

Keywords

  • discourse
  • double movement
  • economic ideas
  • embeddedness
  • Polanyi
  • post-Polanyi

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