Every Clime, Class and Colour

The term market society is often associated with the works of Hungarian economist Karl Polanyi. Born in Vienna in 1886 Polanyi spent his life studying various human economies throughout history. His most well-known work The Great Transformation (1944) focuses on the impact of post industrialised market economies and more specifically on its impact on the shaping of human society. This book coined both the term market society and double movement. Double movement referred to the simultaneous expansion of self-regulating markets and the movement to protect people from its effects (Dale, 2008). The term market society differs from the often-heard phrase market economy which is often defined by reference to either a free capitalist market or State Capitalist. The U.S is an example of a nation dominated by free market thought while the Soviet Union embodied the latter. It differs as it does not just refer to the exchange of goods and services within a society but puts an emphasis on how the market shapes human relations between peoples. For Polanyi who was heavily critical of 20^th century capitalism, a Market Society refers to a society in which “instead of economy being embedded in social relations, social relations are embedded in the economic system” (Polanyi, 1944). A market society develops by commodifying three core roots of social life: land, labour, and money. This market society is one that devastates environment habitats and the communities of people within it.

The result is what we see all around the world today. Society is often subservient to the self-regulating market system. This has been remedied somewhat and to different extents with the emergence of the welfare state. But Polanyi argued that a market society is one in which would eventually destroy the society itself. In other words, it is unsustainable. It does damage in various ways. Firstly, the environmental degradation is the easiest to visualise for contemporary readers. The depletion of the planet’s resources and the annihilations of various forms of life in the process of this depletion is embodied in Climate Change. In the views of Fraiser (2014) the second is a shadow economy of papers values that while insubstantial Is able to devastate the ‘real’ economy. This can be seen in the perpetual boom bust cycle the world has been stuck in for the last two centuries. The impact of economic crashes can destroy millions of lives overnight. Historical examples such as the 2008 financial crisis or the 1929 Wall Street crash still permeate through public memory. Thirdly, a market society damages itself by straining human relations between peoples. Our ability to cooperate with each other and to build communities come under threat (Fraiser, 2014). This can be seen in the loneliness experienced by those excluded by society such as the unhoused. In an era dominated by criticisms of capitalisms environmental impact, Polanyi’s concept of a market society remains useful 80 years after it was written. But it remains removed from mainstream economists who still prefer a more orthodox views of market economies.

Bibliography

Dale, Gareth (2008). “Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation: Perverse effects, protectionism, and Gemeinschaft,” Economy and Society, Vol. 37, No. 4, 495–524.

Fraser, Nancy (2014) “Can society be commodities all the way down? Post-Polanyian reflections on capitalist crisis,” Economy and Society, 43:4, 541-558.

Polanyi, Karl. 1944. The Great Transformation. New York: Farrar & Rinehart.