Karl Polanyi and the antinomies of embeddedness

Abstract

While Polanyi argues that all economies are embedded and enmeshed in social relations and institutions, he tends to see market economy as disembedded, which reveals a tension in his thought. The main motivation for this paper is to understand the origins of this tension. On the basis of a systematic formulation of Polanyi's work, it is argued that Polanyi employs embeddedness in a dual manner: (a) as a methodological principle akin to methodological holism, and (b) as a theoretical proposition on the changing place of economy in society. These two formulations of embeddedness contradict each other. After tracing out the origins of this contradiction, this paper concludes by considering the implications of this analysis for economic sociology. It is argued that embeddedness as a methodological principle is the only acceptable usage of the term. Yet, in this capacity, embeddedness falls short of economic sociology's goal of providing a theoretical alternative to neoclassical economics.

Disembedding Polanyi: Exploring Polanyian Economic Geographies

“…The concept of embeddedness may be Polanyi's "most famous contribution to social thought", as Fred Block (2001, page xxiii) has observed, but it has also been "a source of enormous confusion". Both its lineage and its implications have remained highly contested (see Cangiani, 2011;Dale, 2011;Gemici, 2008;Krippner et al 2004). At root, the concept indexes Polanyi's enduring skepticism concerning the autonomy of the economic in orthodox analysis and in capitalist ideology, embodying his counterclaim that all economies are socially hosted, politically mediated, and institutionally regulated.…”

Embedding Carbon Markets: Complicating Commodification of Ecosystem Services in Mexico's Forests

“…He argued that the fictitious commodity of land, an element of nature, has an integral connection to place and therefore holds deep social and cultural value for local communities, the result being attempts at commodification are often resisted (Polanyi [1944] 2001). Polanyi's use of the concept of embeddedness is known to be somewhat ambiguous and even contradictory, simultaneously suggesting that all economies are embedded but also that market economies are unique (Lacher 1999;Krippner 2002;Gemici 2008;Muellerleile 2013). His point, however, is that economic activity is always enacted through and embedded in institutions, and when institutions in market economies become disembedded from the social and political sphere, society is then treated as simply an "adjunct of the market" (Dale 2010).…”

Apresentação: Explorando os sentidos sociais da economia

“…Polanyi (1944), por sua vez, legou-nos uma das noções centrais ao debate em torno da dimensão social das práticas econômicas, a de enraizamento (embeddedness). Quer se concorde com a perspectiva que reconhece o caráter social dessas práticas pelo seu enraizamento em redes, campos ou instituições, quer se critique essa perspectiva (Beckert, 1996) ou ainda se questione qual, entre os múltiplos sentidos que o termo ganhou, seria o significado de enraizamento (Gemici, 2008), o conceito permanece importante. Mais que isso, a reflexão de Polanyi, por sua forte ancoragem antropológica e histórica, legou-nos uma proposta de análise da economia como um processo institucionalizado, em que se substitui a aplicação dos modelos econômicos pela atenção aos sentidos nativos na análise das trocas (Polanyi, 1957).…”