Karl Polanyi
Encyclopedia
Karl Paul Polanyi was a Hungarian
philosopher, political economist and economic anthropologist known for his opposition to traditional economic
thought and his book The Great Transformation. Polanyi is remembered today as the originator of substantivism
, a cultural approach to economics, which emphasized the way economies are embedded in society and culture. This view ran counter to mainstream economics
but was popular in anthropology
, economic sociology
and political science
.
Polanyi's approach to the ancient economies has been applied to a variety of cases, such as Pre-Columbian America and ancient Mesopotamia, although its utility to the study of ancient societies in general has been questioned. Polyani's The Great Transformation became a model for historical sociology. His theories eventually became the foundation for the economic democracy
movement. His daughter Kari Polanyi-Levitt is Emerita Professor of Economics at McGill University, Montreal.
, and was born in Vienna
, at the time the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
. The son of a prominent member of the bourgeoisie
involved in railroads, father Mihály (til 1904 Pollacsek) von Polányi and mother Cecília Wohl
, Polanyi was well educated despite the ups and downs of his father's fortune, and he immersed himself in Budapest
's active intellectual and artistic scene.
Polanyi founded the radical and influential Club Galilei while at the University of Budapest
, a club which would have far reaching effects on Hungarian intellectual thought. During this time, he was actively engaged with other notable thinkers, such as György Lukács, Oszkár Jászi
, and Karl Mannheim
. Polanyi earned his Ph.D.
in Philosophy
in 1908 and graduated in Law
in 1912. In 1914 he helped found the Hungarian Radical Party and served as its secretary.
Polanyi was a cavalry
officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army
in World War I
, but was removed from service due to disabilities after arriving at the Russian Front
. After the war, he returned to Budapest where he became politically active once again. Polanyi supported the Republican government of Mihály Károlyi
and its Social Democratic
regime. The republic was short-lived, however, and when Béla Kun
toppled the Karolyi government to create the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Polanyi was forced to flee to Vienna.
From 1924 to 1933 he worked there as a journalist writing economic and political commentary for (among others) the prestigious Der Oesterreichische Volkswirt ('The Austrian Economist'). It was at this time that he first began criticizing the Austrian School
of economists, who he felt created abstract models which lost sight of the organic, interrelated reality of economic processes. Polanyi himself was attracted to Fabianism and the works of G. D. H. Cole
. It was also during this period that Polanyi grew interested in Christian Socialism
.
in 1933 as the short-lived Austrian Republic
began to collapse and fascist influence
began to grow. He moved to London
, where he earned a living working as a journalist and tutor and took up a position as a lecturer for the Workers' Educational Association
. Polanyi also conducted the bulk of his research for what would later become The Great Transformation.
He would not start writing this work until 1940, however, when he moved to Vermont
to take up a position at Bennington College
. It was published in 1944 to great acclaim. In it, Polanyi described the enclosure
process in England
and the creation of the contemporary economic system at the beginning of the 19th century.
After the war Polanyi received a teaching position at Columbia University
(1947-1953). However, his wife's (Ilona Duczynska
) background as a former communist
made gaining an entrance visa in the United States
impossible. As a result they moved to Canada
, and Polanyi commuted to New York City. In the early 1950s Polanyi received a large grant from the Ford Foundation
to study the economic systems of ancient empires.
Having described the emergence of the modern economic system, Polanyi now sought to understand how "the economy" emerged as a distinct sphere in the distant past. His seminar at Columbia drew several famous scholars and influenced a generation of teachers, resulting in the 1957 volume Trade and Market in the Early Empires. Polanyi continued to write in his later years and established a new journal entitled Coexistence. In Canada
he resided in Pickering
, Ontario
, where he died in 1964.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
philosopher, political economist and economic anthropologist known for his opposition to traditional economic
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
thought and his book The Great Transformation. Polanyi is remembered today as the originator of substantivism
Substantivism
Substantivism is a position, first proposed by Karl Polanyi in his work The Great Transformation, which argues that the term 'economics' has two meanings...
, a cultural approach to economics, which emphasized the way economies are embedded in society and culture. This view ran counter to mainstream economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
but was popular in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, economic sociology
Economic sociology
Economic sociology studies both the social effects and the social causes of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one. The classical period was concerned particularly with modernity and its constituent aspects...
and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
.
Polanyi's approach to the ancient economies has been applied to a variety of cases, such as Pre-Columbian America and ancient Mesopotamia, although its utility to the study of ancient societies in general has been questioned. Polyani's The Great Transformation became a model for historical sociology. His theories eventually became the foundation for the economic democracy
Economic democracy
Economic democracy is a socioeconomic philosophy that suggests a shift in decision-making power from a small minority of corporate shareholders to a larger majority of public stakeholders...
movement. His daughter Kari Polanyi-Levitt is Emerita Professor of Economics at McGill University, Montreal.
Early life
Polanyi was born into a Jewish family. His younger brother was chemist and philosopher Michael PolanyiMichael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi, FRS was a Hungarian–British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and the theory of knowledge...
, and was born in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, at the time the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. The son of a prominent member of the bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
involved in railroads, father Mihály (til 1904 Pollacsek) von Polányi and mother Cecília Wohl
Cecília Wohl
Cecília Wohl was a Lithuanian-Viennese master, Budapestian salonist known as "Cecil mama", a daughter of the Lithuanian Rabbi Alex Wohl, and a mother of the Polányi brothers.- References :...
, Polanyi was well educated despite the ups and downs of his father's fortune, and he immersed himself in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
's active intellectual and artistic scene.
Polanyi founded the radical and influential Club Galilei while at the University of Budapest
University of Budapest
The Eötvös Loránd University or ELTE, founded in 1635, is the largest university in Hungary, located in Budapest.-History:The university was founded in 1635 in Nagyszombat by the archbishop and theologian Péter Pázmány. Leadership was given over to the Jesuits...
, a club which would have far reaching effects on Hungarian intellectual thought. During this time, he was actively engaged with other notable thinkers, such as György Lukács, Oszkár Jászi
Oszkár Jászi
Oszkár Jászi , known in English as Oscar Jászi, was a Hungarian social scientist, historian, and politician and founder of the Grand Orient rhyte Freemason Lodge of Budapest: the Martinovics Lodge- Early years :...
, and Karl Mannheim
Karl Mannheim
Karl Mannheim , or Károly Mannheim in the original writing of his name, was a Jewish Hungarian-born sociologist, influential in the first half of the 20th century and one of the founding fathers of classical sociology and a founder of the sociology of knowledge.-Life:Mannheim studied in Budapest,...
. Polanyi earned his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
in 1908 and graduated in Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
in 1912. In 1914 he helped found the Hungarian Radical Party and served as its secretary.
Polanyi was a cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, but was removed from service due to disabilities after arriving at the Russian Front
Eastern Front (World War I)
The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...
. After the war, he returned to Budapest where he became politically active once again. Polanyi supported the Republican government of Mihály Károlyi
Mihály Károlyi
Count Mihály Ádám György Miklós Károlyi de Nagykároly was briefly Hungary's leader in 1918-19 during a short-lived democracy...
and its Social Democratic
Social Democratic Party (Hungary)
The Social Democratic Party often known as the "Historical" Social Democratic Party is a Hungarian political party that emerged following a split within the Hungarian Social Democratic Party in 1989...
regime. The republic was short-lived, however, and when Béla Kun
Béla Kun
Béla Kun , born Béla Kohn, was a Hungarian Communist politician and a Bolshevik Revolutionary who led the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919.- Early life :...
toppled the Karolyi government to create the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....
Polanyi was forced to flee to Vienna.
From 1924 to 1933 he worked there as a journalist writing economic and political commentary for (among others) the prestigious Der Oesterreichische Volkswirt ('The Austrian Economist'). It was at this time that he first began criticizing the Austrian School
Austrian School
The Austrian School of economics is a heterodox school of economic thought. It advocates methodological individualism in interpreting economic developments , the theory that money is non-neutral, the theory that the capital structure of economies consists of heterogeneous goods that have...
of economists, who he felt created abstract models which lost sight of the organic, interrelated reality of economic processes. Polanyi himself was attracted to Fabianism and the works of G. D. H. Cole
G. D. H. Cole
George Douglas Howard Cole was an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. As a libertarian socialist he was a long-time member of the Fabian Society and an advocate for the cooperative movement...
. It was also during this period that Polanyi grew interested in Christian Socialism
Christian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...
.
United States and Canada
He fled AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1933 as the short-lived Austrian Republic
First Austrian Republic
The Republic of Austria encompasses the period of Austrian history following the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of September 1919, the settlement after the end of World War I which put an end to the Republic of German Austria, continuing up to World War II...
began to collapse and fascist influence
Austrofascism
Austrofascism is a term which is frequently used by historians to describe the authoritarian rule installed in Austria with the May Constitution of 1934, which ceased with the forcible incorporation of the newly-founded Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938...
began to grow. He moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he earned a living working as a journalist and tutor and took up a position as a lecturer for the Workers' Educational Association
Workers' Educational Association
The Workers’ Educational Association seeks to provide access to education and lifelong learning for adults from all backgrounds, and in particular those who have previously missed out on education. The International Federation of Workers Education Associations has consultative status to UNESCO...
. Polanyi also conducted the bulk of his research for what would later become The Great Transformation.
He would not start writing this work until 1940, however, when he moved to Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
to take up a position at Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
. It was published in 1944 to great acclaim. In it, Polanyi described the enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
process in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the creation of the contemporary economic system at the beginning of the 19th century.
After the war Polanyi received a teaching position at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(1947-1953). However, his wife's (Ilona Duczynska
Ilona Duczyńska
Ilona Duczynska , a Polish-Hungarian female revolutionist, translator, a wife of Karl Polanyi.- External links :*...
) background as a former communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
made gaining an entrance visa in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
impossible. As a result they moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Polanyi commuted to New York City. In the early 1950s Polanyi received a large grant from the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
to study the economic systems of ancient empires.
Having described the emergence of the modern economic system, Polanyi now sought to understand how "the economy" emerged as a distinct sphere in the distant past. His seminar at Columbia drew several famous scholars and influenced a generation of teachers, resulting in the 1957 volume Trade and Market in the Early Empires. Polanyi continued to write in his later years and established a new journal entitled Coexistence. In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
he resided in Pickering
Pickering, Ontario
Pickering is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area, the largest metropolitan area in Canada.- Early Period :...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, where he died in 1964.
Works
- The Great Transformation (1944)
- Trade and Markets in the Early Empires (1957, edited and with contributions by others)
- Dahomey and the Slave Trade (1966)
- Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economics: Essays of Karl Polanyi (1968, collected essays and selections from his work).
- The Livelihood of Man (Studies in social discontinuity)(Academic Pr; New Ed edition (November 1977)
External links
- The Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy - The Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy at Concordia University web site.
- Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (1944) Review Essay by Anne Mayhew, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tennessee
- Profile on Karl Polanyi - On the History of Economic Thought Website
- Kari Polanyi Levitt