Fictitious Freedom: A Polanyian Critique of the Republican Revival

Abstract

Prominent republican theorists invoke anonymous orders such as the market as mechanisms that secure freedom as non‐domination. Drawing on Karl Polanyi's account of fictitious commodities and demonstration of the impossibility of a just and rational market society, this article critically scrutinizes neo‐republican assumptions regarding the market, develops an alternate social theory within which to situate the ideal of non‐domination, and illustrates the importance of this reconfiguration for the kind of collective agents and political strategies that can be expected to advance republican freedom in the economy.

Gig Work and the Discourse of Autonomy: Fictitious Freedom in Japan’s Digital Economy

“…Advocates of gig workboth firms and the governmentclaim that it provides opportunities for workers to exercise greater autonomy, enabling those such as women and the elderly who would otherwise be excluded from the labour market to find employment. They do so by promoting an official discourse built upon advocating what this paper terms, 'fictitious freedom' (Klein 2017). This seeks to portray gig work as a new form of work able to provide increased autonomy and fairness in the digital age.…”

“…The notion, present within the 'official discourse', that gig work represents a new form of autonomous employment, in which workers are freed up to pursue a much greater selection of employment opportunities, is therefore questionable. It is in this sense that we might more adequately conceptualise official pro-gig work discourse as being built upon a notion of 'fictitious freedom' (Klein 2017). That is, pro-gig work discourse draws upon, in a one-sided way, the opportunities for greater autonomy that gig work might provide, whilst concealing or neglecting the substantial constraints that exist and which act to prevent the exercise of that purported autonomy.…”

“…That is, pro-gig work discourse draws upon, in a one-sided way, the opportunities for greater autonomy that gig work might provide, whilst concealing or neglecting the substantial constraints that exist and which act to prevent the exercise of that purported autonomy. For Klein (2017), such a notion of freedom, or 'autonomy', is 'fictitious'. It presents the market as a neutral mechanism through which economic actors can acquire greater freedom as a result of the opportunities to enter into acts of exchange which the market offers.…”

The power of money: Critical theory, capitalism, and the politics of debt

“…But society, for Polanyi, is never a unified whole. Rather, collective actors focused on each of the fictitious commodities self‐organize into organized political groups who then act to substitute political institutions for market mechanisms (Klein, ).…”

Towards a Dynamic Theory of Civil Society: The Politics of Forward and Backward Infiltration

“…In our framework, which is informed by the institutionalist views of theorists like Karl Polanyi ([1944] 2001), the economy is best conceptualized as any activity or institution primarily concerned with the production and distribution of material goods, activities and institutions which, in capitalist societies, tend to be primarily structured by the use of money and stark inequalities in the control of productive assets. Polanyi's analysis of how the organization of production is always intertwined with an active society (Burawoy 2003;Klein 2017b) enables civil society theory to incorporate the dynamics of national political economies. This approach does not posit the differentiation of the economy as an irreversible accomplishment of modern societies.…”