Decades ago, when our family prepared to move, and I was a teen, my mom went through my belongings and discarded some items. Among those things thrown away was a Nolan Ryan rookie card. In 2020, that same card sold for $500,000 in mint condition. I imagine my card deep down in a landfill and wonder, \u201cwhat could have been?\u201d How did we get to a place where such a random item became a valuable commodity?<\/p>\n
Karl Polanyi\u2019s The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time <\/em>details the impact of the Industrial Revolution and its sweeping changes upon Western society. Polanyi traces the historical influences resulting in the emergence of modern capitalism. This book gets classified under economics, but it is also a political and sociology study. Polanyi begins his work by identifying four critical institutions of the nineteenth century, \u201cbut the fount and matrix of the system was the self-regulating market (SRM). It was this innovation which gave rise to a specific civilization.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n What kind of civilization did a market economy create? Before the Industrial Revolution, Polanyi described a traditional society built on numerous principles, including biblical perspective on life and death and the freedom and uniqueness of mankind.[2]<\/a> Dr. Jason Clark notes how those traditional beliefs waned after the Industrial Revolution as \u201cthese religious foundations for identity are now disembedded from the daily life of people within capitalism by the nature and mechanisms of the SRM.\u201d[3]<\/a> In Polanyi\u2019s estimation, the Industrial Revolution resulted in a society built on fictitious commodities compared to real commodities.[4]<\/a> Real commodities refer to items produced to sell on a market versus the fictitious commodities of land, labor, and money. In the earlier society, land, labor, and money were immersed within relationships, morality, and social management.<\/p>\n The book divides into three sections. The first section seeks to answer why a long-standing peace ended, war began, and economies collapsed. The second section analyzes market liberalism and the societies it creates. The final section contrasts socialism and fascism, two political ideologies on the rise during Polanyi\u2019s time of writing.<\/p>\n Polanyi believed that a free market society does not happen organically but rather springs from political and social constructs. In other words, a market economy results from human choice. That choice infuses modern capitalism with a tension between social protection and an unregulated market. When people become a commodity, they stand at risk. A free market promises \u201ca stark utopia\u201d but never materializes due to the pursuit of personal gain over the well-being of society.[5]<\/a> Polanyi makes arguments and then counter-arguments that appear to contradict his previous statements. To put it bluntly, this book was a challenging read for me.<\/p>\n My main takeaway from Polanyi\u2019s work centers on his implied argument for a middle-ground position and an avoidance of economic and political extremes. Polanyi\u2019s conclusion includes warnings about the dangers of fascism. If I understand him correctly, Polanyi attributes the rise of fascism to a reaction against contrary market forces of socialism. He states about fascism and socialism that \u201cthe difference between the two is not primarily economic. It is moral and religious.\u201d[6]<\/a> How much freedom can humankind handle? How much regulation is needed for the benefit of society versus the individual? The opportunities and concerns of capitalism sound similar to the Apostle Paul in I Timothy 6, where the encouragement to the rich is \u201cto be rich in good deeds\u201d while avoiding the \u201csnare\u201d of riches.<\/p>\n Polanyi\u2019s emphasis on morality within a political critique reminded me of a movie quote. Near the end of a very dark movie, Enemy at the Gates<\/em>, two soviet soldiers who vied for the affection of a woman come to terms. One states to the other,<\/p>\n \u201cman will always be man. There is no new man. We tried so hard to create a society that was equal, where there\u2019d be nothing to envy your neighbor. But there\u2019s always something to envy. A smile, a friendship, something you don\u2019t have and want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor. Rich in gifts, poor in gifts. Rich in love, poor in love.\u201d<\/p>\n The human heart can commodify anything regardless of the economic system in place. In order to thrive, humanity needs a measure of freedom and a measure of regulation. What is the right amount for each? The complexity of Polanyi\u2019s work offers no simple, reductionistic answers. May those who follow Jesus recognize the moral aspects of a market society. May its benefits be leveraged and its abuses mitigated, avoiding the errors of the extremes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time <\/em>(Boston: Beacon Press, 2001), 3.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid., 267.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Jason Swan Clark, \u201cEvangelism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship.\u201d Diss., George Fox University, Portland, Oregon, 2018. Faculty Publications, 130.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Polanyi, The Great Transformation, <\/em>xxv.<\/p>\n