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Social Theorist

Karl Polanyi

Sociology

Karl Paul Polanyi was an Austro-Hungarian economic historian, economic sociologist and politician, born in 1886, best known for his book The Great Transformation, which questions the conceptual validity of self-regulating markets. In his writings he advanced the concept of the double movement, the dialectical process of marketization and the push for social protection against that marketization, and argued that market-based societies in modern Europe were not inevitable but historically contingent. He is remembered as the originator of substantivism, a cultural account of economics that emphasizes the way economies are embedded in society and culture, a view counter to mainstream economics but influential in anthropology, economic history, economic sociology and political science. He died in 1964. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Birth Date
1886-10-25 1
Birth Year
1886 1
Death Date
1964-04-23 1
Death Year
1964 1
Birthplace
Vienna, Austria-Hungary 1
Death Place
Pickering, Ontario, Canada 1
Defining Contribution
concept of the Double Movement 1
Notable Work
The Great Transformation 1
Connections

Associated With

Polanyi The Great Transformation argued that the market economy is always embedded in, and made possible by, wider social and political institutions rather than a natural, self-regulating order.

Practices Studied

Source Encyclopedia.com: Karl Polanyi
In the Other Atlases

Nationality

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Sources
1. Karl Polanyi (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Karl Paul Polanyi was an Austro-Hungarian economic historian, economic sociologist, and politician, best known for his book The Great Transformation, which questions the conceptual validity of self-regulating markets.
  • Infobox, birth_date
    25 October 1886
  • Infobox, birth_date (year)
    25 October 1886
  • Infobox, death_date
    1964-04-23
  • Infobox, death_date (year)
    1964-04-23
  • Infobox, birth_place
    Vienna, Austria-Hungary
  • Infobox, death_place
    Pickering, Ontario, Canada
  • Lead section, best known book sentence
    The Great Transformation
  • Lead section, Double Movement sentence
    concept of the Double Movement
View the Source
Wikidata: Karl Polanyi
Wikidata Q318029, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)View the Source
Encyclopedia.com: Karl Polanyi
Encyclopedia.comPractices Studied: The Market, Article text
Quote, Practices Studied: The Market, Article text
In the capitalist, market-integrated economy and in conventional economic theory, the two meanings of “economic” are fused, since in capitalism the market institutions serve both to provide the material means of existence and to enforce economizing activities on the participants: to earn their livelihood people must abide by the rules of the market.
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