30/08

Assessments of Karl Polanyi's works

Michael Hechter, “Karl Polanyi's Social Theory: Critique” [1981]

[1-32]

Hans Zeisel, “Polanyi, Karl” [1968]

[33-37]

Maria Szecsi, “Looking back on the Great Transformation” [1979]

[38-49]

Paul Medow, “Nine Stages in the Development of K. Polanyi' Thought” [1969]

[50]

1. (1909 article) Marxist socialism is a misleading vision: the ideals of socialism will be betrayed by the working class: the result will be fascism.
2. (1922 article) Socialist prices must reflect social aspirations as well as utility.
3. (After the coming of Fascism) Fascism regards socialism as its enemy because socialism as an idea is a new manifestation of Christian aspirations.
4. (The Great Transformation) The idea of a self-regulating market system is a utopia.
5. (Commentary article, and addition to G.T.) The alternative view of industrial society must center on the recognition of the reality of power and the “reality of society” in a technological civilization, that is the everpresent possibility of eternal damnation. This, however, like the revelation of death and the revelation of the possibility of eternal damnation, must be a source of greater productiveness in the possibility of overcoming this prospect, which stems from the uncertainty of the limits involved.
6. (Trade and the Market) Instead of an approach to motivations in the analysis of the institutional basis of empirical economies, one should approach it through the concept of operational definitions of individual elements, but ultimately in terms of a substantive definition of the economy resting on the concept of instituted behaviour.
7. (“The New West”) The West must cease to identify itself with capitalism and (?) with power politics in the new world situation in which the aspirations of socialistically inclined new nations have become decisive. It must seek a modus vivendi with Russia and China and establish a new institutional basis for international trade. Only then will a possibility for survival be assured and a possibility for disseminating the positive elements in its heritage to other countries created.
8. (“Aristotle and Galbraith on Affluence”) The arrival of abundance in production makes possible the non-market financing of institutions corresponding to Aristotle’s concept of “the good life”, and also the establishment of markets for “inefficiency” at points at which efficiency conflicts with the requirement of personal freedom.
9. (“Non-market economics”) The general definition of the economy makes possible the formulation of general principles of economic analysis and also indicates requirements of ethical norms.

Paul Medow, “The place of K. Polanyi in the History of Thought about Rationality and Society” [1962]

[51] 1. The Hegelian tradition meant a recognition of the reality of functional relations, that overcome the influence of the concept of the law of nature on man’s interpretation of the relations of society to the individual that prevailed during the Enlightenment. But the Maine tradition then led to a renewed emphasis on personal rationality in this regard, that was most pronounced in the works of Weber and of his successors (Tawney, Fromm).

Already in Tawney, however, an element of normativism appeared, which derived from a recognition of the concept of society. It was also present in Fromm, who associated rationality with a general image of man. The missing link was provided by the works of Polanyi, who represents a continuation of the Hegelian tradition, on the one hand, which recognizes the reality of the functional relations in society (extended to the reality of the industrial structure), a concern with normativism in the field of socio-political measures, and a concern with existential ethics (the problem of fascism in industrial societies) as well.

In this perspective the place of personal rationality is different from the one it occupies both in the Hegelian tradition and in the Maine tradition (it is these two, and no longer Smith’s view of the law of nature, which have become the issue). It is one in which man must recognize the reality of means ends relationship, and then utilize them in the light of his own preferences and norms in so far as it is possible, the ultimate concern being with existential problems and meaningful spiritual living.

Felix Schafer, “Some links between the Early and the Later Work of Karl Polanyi” [1973]

[52] Just the Table of Contents; for the whole text see: “Some links between the Early and the Later Work of Karl Polanyi”

[…, 76]