{"id":28320,"date":"2022-03-03T15:04:24","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T23:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28320"},"modified":"2022-03-03T15:04:24","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T23:04:24","slug":"bleeding-in-the-struggle-of-land-labor-and-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/bleeding-in-the-struggle-of-land-labor-and-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Bleeding in the struggle of land, labor, and money"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Great transformation<\/em> was written by Karl Polanyi who was an Austro-Hungarian economic historian and historical sociologist who lived from 1886-1964. This book was one of his best known works in which he argues against the self-regulating markets. Joseph Stiglitz summarized Polanyi\u2019s central argument in self-regulating markets as \u201cdeficiencies, not only in their internal workings but also in their consequences, are so great that government intervention becomes necessary.\u201d[1]<\/a> Polanyi\u2019s economic, social, and political theory discussions in this book is laid out into three parts. In part one and three of his book, Polanyi \u201csets up a puzzle: Why did a prolonged period of relative peace and prosperity in Europe, lasting from 1815 to 1914, suddenly give way to a world war followed by an economic collapse? Part Two \u2013 the core of the book \u2013 provides Polanyi\u2019s solution to the puzzle.\u201d[2]<\/a> This book contains Polanyi\u2019s vast knowledge in history, politics, sociology, and economic theories and he uses his vast knowledge to support two levels of his central argument. He categorized land, labor, and money as fictitious commodities and defined \u201clabor is simply the activity of human beings, land is subdivided nature, and the supply of money and credit in modern societies is necessarily shaped by governmental policies.\u201d[3]<\/a> And he first reasons that nature and human beings cannot be priced and determined by the market because they have a sacred dimension.<\/p>\n

Then secondly, he claims that the government must play the manager\u2019s role in adjusting the supply and demand.<\/p>\n

I thought Polanyi was a true genius in the way he defined labor, land, and money and used that definition to claim his central argument that self-regulating markets requires some sort of government regulations and interventions. He made this fundamental point that needs to determine the framework any self-regulating market in a country \u2013 \u201clabor, land, and money are essential elements of industry; they also must be organized in markets; in fact, these markets form an absolutely vital part of the economic system.\u201d[4]<\/a> I think nation of Korea and its history clearly illustrates that self-regulating market in a country cannot exist without governmental regulations and it also displays enormous aftermath in effects from governmental regulations. When I tell Americans that I am Korean American these days, they ask me whether I am from North Korea or South Korea. Over the years, the awareness of North and South Korea grew global due to influence from CNN, Kim Jong-un \u2013 the dictator of North Korea, and rise of KPOP and BTS in South Korea. When I first immigrated to the US back in 1988, no one hardly recognized North and South Korea because simply the country was so small in labor, land, and money. Even though Korea was small in land, labor, and money over many centuries, it was geographically located in a crucial location in the east. During the early 1900\u2019s it was stuck between power struggle of Russo Japanese War in the early 1900s. One of the aftermath of the end of WW2 was the new power struggle between Communism and Democracy in the mid 1900\u2019s. The Korean War and the split between North and South Korea in 1953 was a direct result of struggle for land, labor, and money. And what Polanyi argued is very accurate in the way that self-regulating markets cannot exist without governmental involvement and regulation. North and South Korea completely took different approach in the governmental systems and regulations since 1953 split and it has charted the two countries in a completely different aftermath in economy of land, labor, and money. Polanyi wrote that \u201cat the root of the dilemma there is the meaning of freedom itself. Liberal economy gave a false direction to our ideals. It seemed to approximate the fulfillment of intrinsically utopian expectations. No society is possible in which power and compulsion are absent, not a world in which force has no function.\u201d[5]<\/a> The past tragedy in Korea and current tragedy in Ukraine reminds me of brokenness in the imperfect system of economy and greed for more land, labor, and money. The false vision of trying to make a perfect utopia and building a one common world is a tempting illusion that roots back to tower of Babel. My prayers goes out to the young soldiers fighting in the front line of both countries, the crowd singing the national anthem to halt a fleet of tanks, the parents who cannot sleep because they are separated from their children and have already lost their children, and all the church and governmental leaders who are trying to bring restoration and healing in the midst of chaos and suffering. May God of true peace and true freedom be magnified in Ukraine!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>. 2nd ed. Edition (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001), vii.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Polanyi, The Great Transformation, <\/em>xxii. <\/em><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Polanyi, The Great Transformation, <\/em>xxv.<\/em><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Polanyi, The Great Transformation, <\/em>75.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Polanyi, The Great Transformation, <\/em>266.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great transformation was written by Karl Polanyi who was an Austro-Hungarian economic historian and historical sociologist who lived from 1886-1964. This book was one of his best known works in which he argues against the self-regulating markets. Joseph Stiglitz summarized Polanyi\u2019s central argument in self-regulating markets as \u201cdeficiencies, not only in their internal workings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-28320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-polanyi","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28322,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28320\/revisions\/28322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}