I admit it, I'm too lazy to start reviewing some proper social science in order to start contributing to the debate from the perspective of one who (supposedly) knows political theory rather well. So in the past week I have started out by posting some intriguing quotes. Maybe I'll graduate to writing book reviews, and even fuller thought pieces. I'm getting tired of all the cutesy posts on this blog.
So anyway, here's another quote, Karl Polanyi's four evil freedoms: "(1) the freedom to exploit one's fellows, (2) the freedom to makes inordinate gains without commensurable service to the community, (3) the freedom to keep technological inventions from being used for public benefit, or (4) the freedom to profit from public calamities secretely enginered for private advantage". This fellow was defining neoliberalism back in 1944 and he's a pretty exciting thinker, so I may share more of his thought in here.
Picture: Karl Polanyi
Picture: Karl Polanyi 
3 comments:
Can you tell me where you got that Polanyi quote?
From a long time ago, I guess, but I think you misjudge the man. Of course, anyone who is not a political economist probably have never read "The Great Transformation," but his point was that capitalism was a system that had to be in some ways managed. And we certainly live today in a world of managed capitalism (Social Security, Medicare, and even more so huge subsidies to firms to hire more). His point in 1944 was that Capitalism was not correctly managed in those days, and what happened was that large mobs of angry, desperate people swayed by opportunistic leaders decided to do away with both democracy and capitalism altogether. The system can bring about its own demise, and we must work to preserve it.
Good book, but really dense and nuanced point. Most serious poli-econ students will get a copy at least by graduate school, but hes not quite read publically and generally misunderstood (many students will also probably not read it). For example, he was actually a staunch anti-communist, though many believe he was one.
Hi Anon,
I got that quote from David Harvey's short history of neoliberalism.
I haven't got the book with me, so I can't give you the full reference of where Harvey got that from, but in his book it is in the first chapter.
I like Polanyi's wok because it works well with that of regulation theorists such as Lipietz. I think the regulation school is a compelling lens though which to see current evolutions of capitalism and the nation state i.e. the transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism.
I never implied that Polanyi was a communist, and I would not want to be seen as appropriating him in any way for an agenda that was never his. This blog is just a collection of things I find interesting for (my own) understanding of social change.
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