The Power of Market Fundamentalism
Karl Polanyi’s Critique
Fred Block author Margaret R Somers author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Harvard University Press
Published:29th Aug '16
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This book explores the enduring appeal of free-market ideas, analyzing their rise despite evident economic failures. The Power of Market Fundamentalism critiques these ideologies' impact on society.
In The Power of Market Fundamentalism, authors Fred Block and Margaret Somers delve into the resilience of free-market ideologies, exploring their persistent appeal despite significant economic failures. They build upon Karl Polanyi's foundational work to analyze how these ideas have not only survived but thrived in the face of alarming issues such as chronic unemployment, increasing inequality, and recurrent financial crises that have plagued Western economies for decades. The authors question why, despite the evident shortcomings of market-driven approaches, these ideologies continue to dominate the economic landscape.
Block and Somers argue that Polanyi's assertion—that a truly self-regulating free market has never existed—holds significant weight. They contend that while markets play a crucial role in facilitating individual choice, they are inherently dependent on state intervention to function effectively. Essential public goods such as education, healthcare, and social security cannot be adequately provided through market mechanisms alone. When these necessities are subjected to market logic, the fabric of social life becomes jeopardized, leading to crises that resonate across society.
The authors also reflect on the seductive nature of market principles, which promise to reduce the influence of politics in our lives. This desire stems from the often contentious nature of political engagement, where compromise can feel unsatisfactory. However, they caution that the belief in free markets as a substitute for government oversight is as illusory and perilous as the notion that communism could lead to a state-less society. The Power of Market Fundamentalism serves as a critical examination of the ideology that shapes our economic reality today.
In seeking to understand the dynamics of our own time, we can do no better than to revisit Polanyi… Block and Somers provide a thorough reprise of Polanyi for readers new to him and careful analysis for specialists. The best part of their book is its introductory chapter, a well-integrated and brisk summary of the man and his ideas. Other chapters provide useful discussions of what Polanyi’s social history gets right and slightly wrong, as well as astute comparisons of Polanyi with Keynes and Marx… As more of us are having second thoughts about the second coming of the primal market, it is as if Polanyi is somewhere in the ether. Rereading Polanyi at a time when events vindicate his vision, one has to be struck with the eerie contemporary ring. Polanyi is startlingly 21st-century in addressing how the private rule of global finance puts public policy in a straitjacket. -- Robert Kuttner * American Prospect *
Two of the smartest and most erudite sociologists at work today, Block and Somers deftly trace the biographical origins of Polanyi’s ideas and elucidate the philosophical, historical, and economic literatures he alludes to. The result is a lucid, engaging, and often brilliant guidebook to The Great Transformation that shows just how much we need Polanyi today… Everyone should be reading The Great Transformation these days. But first they should probably read The Power of Market Fundamentalism. -- Frank Dobbin * American Journal of Sociology *
A timely book. More and more people are reading and quoting Polanyi, but they don’t always understand him. The Power of Market Fundamentalism undertakes to situate Polanyi’s thinking in our time and relate it to the events that have taken place since the publication of The Great Transformation in 1944. It also draws on biographical material in a way that only the two authors are able to. It does an excellent job of exploring how the world changed in a neoliberal direction when at the end of World War II everyone believed that capitalism would forever be under control. -- Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne
Karl Polanyi’s analysis should be an invaluable resource for social scientists, policy makers, and intelligent citizens who are grappling to find better ways of interpreting the economic and social distress that grips so many formerly comfortable societies of the industrialized North. Block and Somers, who are the premier analysts of Polanyi’s work, do a wonderful job of bringing this invaluable resource to bear on today’s debates. -- Peter Evans, University of California, Berkeley
- Nominated for William H. Riker Book Award 2015
ISBN: 9780674970885
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
312 pages