Description
Part of the Key Contemporary Thinkers series, this work by Dale (Brunel U., UK) is a broadly sympathetic but critically-minded introduction to the work of social and economics theorist Karl Polyani. Dale has aimed for a comprehensive treatment of Polanyi's work, but has deferred discussion of his political and intellectual formation and his biography to a later book that is planned. Chapters address Polanyi's critique of capitalism and the associated theme of individual morality in an alienated social system; the contributions of The Great Transformation, which introduced the ideas for which Polanyi became known; Polanyi's theories on the institutionalization of trade, markets, and money in "archaic" empires; the ways in which Polanyi's works have been subsequently interpreted and applied, with a focus on the concepts of embeddedness and the double movement; and Polanyi's views on the rise of neoliberalism. Distributed in the US by Wiley. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation is generally acclaimed as being among the most influential works of economic history in the twentieth century, and remains as vital in the current historical conjuncture as it was in his own. In its critique of nineteenth-century "market fundamentalism" it reads as a warning to our own neoliberal age, and is widely touted as a prophetic guidebook for those who aspire to understand the causes and dynamics of global economic turbulence at the end of the 2000s. Karl Polanyi: The Limits of the Market is the first comprehensive introduction to Polanyi's ideas and legacy. It assesses not only the texts for which he is famous – prepared during his spells in American academia – but also his journalistic articles written in his first exile in Vienna, and lectures and pamphlets from his second exile, in Britain. It provides a detailed critical analysis of The Great Transformation, but also surveys Polanyi’s seminal writings in economic anthropology, the economic history of ancient and archaic societies, and political and economic theory. Its primary source base includes interviews with Polanyi's daughter, Kari Polanyi-Levitt, as well as the entire compass of his own published and unpublished writings in English and German. This engaging and accessible introduction to Polanyi's thinking will appeal to students and scholars across the social sciences, providing a refreshing perspective on the roots of our current economic crisis.
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