Introduction

A post-Polanyian political economy for our times

Bibliographic Data

ID2159680
AuthorsChristopher Holme (0000-0002-1248-0983, Holmes Community College, corresponding author), Christopher Holmes (0000-0002-8232-5970)
Year2014
Volume43
Issue4
Pages525-540
Publication date2014-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085147.2014.955700
OpenAlexW2118710558
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited30

2014 is the seventieth anniversary of the publication of Karl Polanyi's The great transformation and the fiftieth anniversary of its author's passing. This special issue celebrates these markers by bringing together a collection of critical engagements with Polanyi's work which, whilst sympathetic to his intellectual aims, ward against any straightforward application to contemporary issues. In so doing, it suggests that part of the value of Polanyi's work lies not in its ability to be recited, repeated and re-applied in its original form, but rather in its openness and its susceptibility to alteration and transmutation. In this introductory article, I consider the return to intellectual 'voices from the past' in the post-2008 landscape. I suggest that the distinctiveness of Polanyi's voice comes from his attempt to problematize, challenge and re-imagine the very notion of 'economy' itself, a theme which underpins all of his most important ideas, and one which reverberates across contributions to this special issue. I suggest that, beyond his immediate critique of free-market ideas, the desire to de-centre the notion of an autonomous economic sphere – and to challenge abstract modes of thought that address such a notion, regardless of their political sensibilities – is his most valuable legacy, and one which might encourage us to seek out new innovations and engagements in future Polanyian scholarship

Economics · Embeddedness · Epistemology · Law and economics · Openness to experience · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Theme (computing · Value (mathematics · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism