Economy and Society: Selected Writings

Karl Polanyi (1886-1964) was one of the most influential political economists of recent times. His book The Great Transformation is generally acclaimed as being among the most important works of economic history in the twentieth century.Claus Thomasberger is Professor at the University of Applied Science Berlin.Michele Cangiani is Professor at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice.

• Acknowledgements viiIntroduction by Michele Cangiani and Claus Thomasberger 1Part I Red Vienna 131 On Freedom 152 New Reflections Concerning our Theory and Practice 413 The Functionalist Theory of Society and the Problem of Socialist Economic Accounting 51Part II The World Economic Crisis and The Rise of Fascism 594 Economy and Democracy 615 The Mechanism of the World Economic Crisis 666 The Essence of Fascism 817 The Fascist Virus 108Part III On Marx and the Christian Roots of Western Civilization 1238 Fascism and Marxism 1258.1 Fascism and Marxian Terminology 1258.2 Marxism Re-Stated 1299 Marx on Corporativism 13510 Community and Society. The Christian Criticism of our Social Order 14411 Christianity and Economic Life 154Part IV The Great Transformation, Political Philosophy and Democracy 16512 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, or Is a Free Society Possible? 16713 Common Man’s Masterplan 17714 The Meaning of Parliamentary Democracy 18715 Our Obsolete Market Mentality. Civilization Must Find a New Thought Pattern 197Part V Alignments on the International Stage 21316 Why Make Russia Run Amok? 21517 British Labour and American New Dealers 22618 Universal Capitalism or Regional Planning? 231Part VI Towards a Comparative Study of Economic Institutions 24119 On Belief in Economic Determinism 24320 The Livelihood of Man, Introduction 25121 The Economistic Fallacy 26322 The Two Meanings of Economic 27523 The Economy Embedded in Society 290Postscript 29924 Hamlet 301Notes 314Index 327

‘Karl Polanyi is a Titan among modern social theorists. He is always worth rereading. He forces us to think.’ Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University