On Transformations: Past, Present and Future?

In this article, which originated from the keynote address to the conference “Karl Polanyi and the Transformation of the Contemporary World System” in Budapest in 2004, Kari Polanyi Levitt provides a vivid account of her father’s life and work. She shows how Karl Polanyi’s prediction of the fateful consequences of unleashing the destructive power of unregulated market capitalism has assumed new urgency and relevance in times of globalization and financialization, which manifest similarities with earlier penetrations of capitalism into the developing world. We have arrived at a critical moment in history. To gain perspective on possible futures we need to lengthen parameters of inquiry to embrace the history of European hegemony and the evolution of capitalism from its beginnings in mercantilist conquest. Thus, we must turn to the concepts that underlie the narrative of The Great Transformation—the fictitious commodities, the disembedded economy and the double movement—to make sense of past and present transformations and shape them in the future.