Social democracy, embeddedness and decommodification: On the conceptual innovations and intellectual affiliations of Karl Polanyi

Of the several debates that revolve around the work of the economic historian and political economist Karl Polanyi, one that continues to exercise minds concerns his analysis of, and political attitudes toward, post-war capitalism and the welfare state. Simplified a little, it is a debate with two sides. To borrow Iván Szelényi's terms, one side constructs a ‘hard’ Karl Polanyi, the other a ‘soft’ one. The former advocated a socialist mixed economy dominated by redistributive mechanisms. He was a radical socialist for whom the market should never be the dominant mechanism of economic coordination. His ‘soft’ alter ego insisted that the market system remain essentially intact but be complemented by redistributive mechanisms. The ‘double movement’ – the central thesis of his ‘Great Transformation’ – acts, in this reading, as a self-correcting mechanism that moderates the excesses of market fundamentalism; its author was positioned within the social-democratic mainstream for which the only realistic desirable goal is a regulated form of capitalism. In terms of textual evidence there is much to be said for both interpretations. In this article I suggest a different approach, one that focuses upon the meaning of Polanyi's concepts in relation to their socio-political and intellectual environment

Zur Systematik und Variationsstatistik der Mormyriden haupts\ue4chlich aus den deutsch-afrikanischen Schutzgebieten. Nach dem Material des K\uf6niglichen Zoologischen Museums zu Berlin

Volume: 3Start Page: 339End Page: 36

Neue und ungen\ufcgend bekannte elektrische Fische (Fam. Mormyridae) aus den deutsch-afrikanischen Schutzgebieten

Volume: 1906Start Page: 260End Page: 26

Zoologische Ergebnisse der Expedition des Herrn G. Tessmann nach S\ufcd-Kamerun und SpanischGuinea.-- Fische

Volume: 5Start Page: 505End Page: 52

Ein neuer “pseudo”-elektrischer Fisch aus Kamerum, Mormyrus tapirus, sp. n

Volume: 1905Start Page: 217End Page: 21

Die Fische der Deutschen S\ufcdpolar-Expedition 1901-1903. I. Die Fische der Antarktis und Subantarktis

Volume: 13Start Page: 163End Page: 18

Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Fische der Jangtze und seiner Zufl\ufcsse

Volume: 1908Start Page: 95End Page: 10

Fische

Volume: 5Start Page: 225End Page: 26

cber die Fischfauna des Rukwa-Sees

Volume: 1903Start Page: 259End Page: 27