THE GREAT CONTRADICTION IN THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v20i2.891Abstract
The Great Transformation (Polanyi, 1944E) is one of the most influential and widely cited Grand Narratives of the development route of European civilization, and even that of humanity given the extraordinary influence of European societal development. Polanyi’s main thesis is that the free market liberal capitalism not only had a destructive effect, but has a fatal internal contradiction. The root of the contradiction is that it treats labor, land, and money as commodities, while these are not commodities because they are not produced for sale. The societal destruction is the consequence of this fatal contradiction. The second great transformation towards planning state is the consequence and correction of the first one. The paper aims to demonstrate that there is a great contradiction in The Great Transformation. Polanyi applies two diametrically opposing economic theories, assumptions of state and concepts of role of individuality in different parts of the book.
References
Block, F. (2001) ‘Introduction’, in Polanyi, K. The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press, pp. xviii-xxxviii.
Block, F. and Somers, M. (2014) The Power of Market Fundamentalism. Karl Polanyi’s Critique. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Bockman, J., Fischer, A. and Woodruff, D. (2016) ‘“Socialist Accounting” by Karl Polanyi: with preface “Socialism and the embedded economy”’, Theory and Society, 45(5), pp. 385-427.
Dale, G. (2010) Karl Polanyi: the limits of the market. Cambridge: Malden, MA: Polity Press
Dale, G. (2016) Reconstructing Karl Polanyi: excavation and critique.London: Pluto Press.
Graeber, D. and Wengrow, D. (2021) The Dawn of Everything. London:Penguin Books.
Hejeebu, S. and McCloskey, D. (1999) ‘The reproving of Karl Polanyi’, Critical Review, 13(3-4), pp. 285-314.
Huerta de Soto, J. (2010) Socialism, Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship. Edward Elgar.
Macfarlane, A. (1978) The origins of English individualism: the family, property and social transition. Oxford: Blackwell.
Menger, C. (1871) Principles of Economics. New York: New York University Press.
Mises, L. (1920) Economic Calculation in The Socialist Commonwealth. 1990th edn. Auburn (Alabama): Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Mises, L. (1927) Liberalism. Auburn: Mises Institute.
Mises, L. (1940) Nationalökonomie: Theorie des Handelns und Wirtschaftens. Genf: Editions Union Genf.
Mises, L. (1944) Omnipotent Government. 2010th edn. Yale University Press.
Mises, L. (1944b) Bureaucracy. 1946th edn. New Haven: Yale University Press.Oppenheimer, F. (1908) The State. 1922th. edn. New York: Vanguard Press.
Polanyi (1922) ‘“Socialist Accounting” in.: Bockman, J., Fischer, A. and Woodruff, D. (2016) ‘“Socialist Accounting” by Karl Polanyi: with preface “Socialism and the embedded economy”’, Theoryand Society, 45(5), pp. 385-427.
Polanyi, K. (1944) La Gran Transformación Critica del liberalismo económico. 2007th edn. www.quipueditorial.com.ar: Quipu editorial.
Polanyi, K. (1944E) The Great Transformation. 2010th edn. Boston:Beacon Press.
Pomeranz, K. (2001) The Great Divergence. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Scott, J.C. (2017) Against the grain: a deep history of the earliest states. New Haven: Yale University Press
Smith, A. (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Elecbook Classics.
Spufford, P. (1988) Money and its use in medieval Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stiglitz, J.E. (2001) ‘Foreword’, in Polanyi, K. The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press, pp. vii-xvii.
Tóth, A. and Juhasz, J. (2023) ‘Decision Making under uncertainty: a Mengerian analysis’, Procesos de Mercado. Revista Europea de Economía Política, 20(1), pp. 222-253.
