Nézeteink válsága

The crisis of our ideologies

(tr. Adam Fabry in DALE Gareth (ed.), Karl Polanyi: The Hungarian Writings)

[83]The ruling ideas of capitalist society are in crisis, for the first, transitional phase of capitalist epoch is drawing to a close and the next period, which is in gestation, will give rise to a different set of prevailing values.

[84] In the age of organized capitalism, the ruling ideas in society will undergo a thoroughgoing transformation. As a result of the increasing centralization of capital, private property will no longer possess an individual character, and as a result, individual consciousness will appear superfluous to the interests of capital. […] In the age of collective bargaining, the uniformity of consciousness and standardization will become increasingly valued, (…), stable economic conditions will make the critical mentality appear superfluous and loathsome, even immoral. The objectivity, (…) will cease and be replaced by knowledge in the form of instrumental prejudice. […] The vitality of individual personality will become increasingly irrelevant in spheres of society: personality will lose its importance, as the individual becomes defined not by the ‘personal’ but by the ‘social’: that which is characterized not by the subjective direction of will but by the adaptation to the will of others. Consequently, in the approaching era of organized capitalism the ruling ideology will be socialist. The maxims of individually different consciousness will no longer be acceptable; instead, a disciplined society will once again generate a solid faith and strict morality, to which the ideal individual will effortlessly adapt with the minimum of conscious intervention.

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Original Publication: “Nézeteink válsága”, Huszadik Század, 11.1-2, p. 125-127
KPA: 01/06 (10 pages; 2 copies of the original article and an english translation)
Published English Translation : “The crisis of our ideologies”, in DALE Gareth (ed.), Karl Polanyi: The Hungarian Writings, p. 83-85