On Belief on Economic Determinism

Text in English to type

[96] My main thesis is
(a) that economic determinism was pre-eminently a nineteenth century phenomenon, which …
(b) that the market system distorted our views on man and society;
(c) these distorted views are proving one of the main obstacles to the solution of the problems of our civilization.

DEFINITION OF THE PRESENT PHASE OF OUR CIVILIZATION. An historian should find no difficulty in defining the stage […]

SUCH, in common sense terms, is the bird's eye view of our troubles. Meanwhile […]

[97] INDUSTRIAL civilization unhinged the elements of man's being. The machine […]

OUR situation […]

SUCH a proposition was, of coure, true in respect to a market-economy.But only in respect to such an economy. […]

[98]

LET us stop and consider. Is there anything intrinsically economic about these motives in the sense in which we speak of religious or aesthetic motives being based on religious or aesthetic experiences? Is there anything about hunger or, for that matter, about gain […] [99] [100]

THIRDLY, there is the suddenness with which the transformation occurred. this is not a matter of degree but of kind. A chain-reaction was induced, and the harmless […]

THE every day activities of men and woman are, in the nature of things, to a large […]

[101]

NOW, if this definition of man were true, every human society

THIS explains the current belief […]

LET me proceed to some conclusions.

THE task of adjusting the […]

THE civilization we are seeking […]

[102]

Text Informations

Reference:
Original Publication: “On belief on economic determinism”, The Sociological Review, vol. 39, n°2, January 1947, p. 103-112
KPA: 35/08 (17 p., copy of the original)
Recent Publication in English: in Polanyi 2018b, p. 241-242

Lge	Name
DE	“Über den Glauben an den ökonomischen Determinismus“
FR	« Faut-il croire au déterminisme économique ? »