Industrialism and Freedom

J. R. Stanfield

Chapter 5 in The Economic Thought of Karl Polanyi, 1986, pp 125-150 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Having traced the evolution of market capitalism, its congenital defects, the protective response they spawned, and the drift thusly generated toward the corporate-welfare state, and in light of the rife institutional crisis which permeates that social order, it is necessary to pause and take stock. I have argued that the corporate-welfare state manifests a spontaneous social movement unconsciously bent on returning the economy to its traditional or historical place in society, namely, an economy politically administered or otherwise socially embedded. Several questions emerge. What are the implications of the analysis with respect to industrialism, the patent historical sibling of market capitalism? How does the present analysis compare with the logic of industrial reform and social change which has been a key theme of American Institutionalism from its precursors, through its founders, to its current champions? Together, considerations of these two questions will enable me to suggest the strength of Polanyi’s interpretation of social change in industrial market capitalism, and lead me to a final and most important question: What is the place of freedom in the emerging order? Is freedom in fact so integrally intertwined with the market economy that it is institutionally inconsistent with the administered economy?

Keywords: Market Capitalism; Market Economy; Industrial Revolution; Protective Response; Industrial System (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1986
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-18434-7_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349184347

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-18434-7_5

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().