The Livelihood of Man

by Karl Polanyi

Esta obra resulta sumamente pertinente en momentos como el actual, en el que la economía de mercado se presenta como la única forma «natural» de economía. El autor pone de relieve en sus estudios sobre las economías primitivas y antiguas la inadecuación de los instrumentos teóricos actuales para explicar su funcionamiento. Las conclusiones de Polanyi —que no es un debelador del liberalismo, sino un desvelador de su relatividad histórica— son rigurosas y fascinantes. La propuesta supone abordar de forma global la historia económica, en la que deben confluir la arqueología, la antropología la historia de las ideas sociales y religiosas.

Genres: Economics, History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Politics

335 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1977

About the author

Karl Paul Polanyi was an Austro-Hungarian economic historian, economic anthropologist, economic sociologist, political economist, historical sociologist and social philosopher. He is known for his opposition to traditional economic thought and for his book, The Great Transformation, which argued that the emergence of market-based societies in modern Europe was not inevitable but historically contingent. Polanyi is remembered today as the originator of substantivism, a cultural approach to economics, which emphasized the way economies are embedded in society and culture. This view ran counter to mainstream economics but is popular in anthropology, economic history, economic sociology and political science.

Polanyi's approach to the ancient economies has been applied to a variety of cases, such as Pre-Columbian America and ancient Mesopotamia, although its utility to the study of ancient societies in general has been questioned. Polanyi's The Great Transformation became a model for historical sociology. His theories eventually became the foundation for the economic democracy movement. His daughter, Canadian economist Kari Polanyi Levitt (born 1923 in Vienna, Austria), is Emerita Professor of Economics at McGill University, Montreal.

Reviews

[Nia · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite quote was:

"utilitarianism...opiate of the comercialized masses."

This book is something of a recap of 'The Great Transformation' The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time as he says idea of stages of development is wrong, hence mkts are not historical progression, but an aberration.

Today is Fri Apr 25 2014, Gregorian Calendar.
Meow Dt: Tuesday, April 24. 12014 H.E. (Holocene Era)

(Remaining notes found and posted 16.2.12016HE:
"2006-03-26 22:25:00
Book notes: Polanyi, The Livelihood of Man
(I love this!) "utilitarianism...opiate of the comercialized masses."

Recap of 'Great Transformation' -says idea of stages of dev. is wrong, hence mkts not historical progression, but aberration.

Economic Solipsism:
19th c. educated thought only of econ. & that pol. didn't matter. i.e. Spencer 'ind. vs. mil. systems'; mkt pushes out justice and law (we're seeing this today w/globalization...); law/justice/freedom <- state action, not mkt.

2 meanings of economic: economizing/economical vs. physical sustainment

Carl Menger Principles 1871 -important distinctions w/'2 economies' lost due to selection...

Scarcity as !, economic man !, Aristotle rejected scarcity. (Aristotle 'Politics'...); oikos and polis == life, not $; unlimited $-seeking is the problem.

lbr + other goods in specific way -> econ. prod.
See Walt Whitman's 'Democratic Vistas' (1871)


Kin grps ==econ funct. unless econ. sep. from pol/soc. org.

p.63 -"primative man was strongly averse to barter."
p. 73 soc. disruptions (Babylon & Assyrian empire frced relocations) allowed gain-ban elim.

p. 97 $ uses: 1. val. std/account (counters) 2. store of wealth/value 3. medium of exchange


p. 117/9 diff. kinds of money existed for different status/ranks of people -not interchangeable
p. 120 $ was NOT all-purpose in ancient times; recip and redistr need equivalencies

p. 148 hesiod & amos worried about individualist market -> starvation; tribes redist. so !hunger

iron age ->breakdown of kinship/tribal rel.

agora and polis:
cyrus insulted greek mkts ('cheat each other and forswear themselves'); no mkts in persia

athenian citizens rotated offices filled by lot, no second term until every citizen had held the office

Athenians not eng. in trade: dep. on imported grain; Free Trde England also, but controlled wrld mkt until now; Rome dir. contrld grain to prevent Athenian problem

creation of world grain market by Athens & Alexander, Ptolemy

token (local) $ != external $;
p.260 town of Clazomenae minted iron coins, taxed wealthy citizens & gave the iron coins to wealthy, retiring iron over several years for silver to no income lost (to pay loan to foriegners in silver...)
pottery 'drafts' as temp coin for merchants w/eventual redemption by Timotheus, of Athenian army, told by Polyaenus: 'bore no value beyond the king's domain' but it worked, as king took it for grain, etc.
p. 263 NO INFLATION or devaluing happened.
Dionysius 'sober and temperant' saved Syracuse from Carthage; no good coins forced out for bad...

-----That's not what I've read up to now...
Says nonmkt econs ==recip. redistr. mtehods; Unlike Africa, Greeks interchanged local and foreign coinages.

P. 265-6 bankers often held coin hoards but not allowed to foreclose (since they're either slaves, foreigners, or freemen, so not allowed to own property); Greek banks did not create credit
p. 268 banks fac. payments
p. 273 Ptolemaic egypt -> best centrally planned mktless system in world; Max Weber says ancient capitalism diff. from modern -'grounded in politics' & says Rome's spread beyond coast stretched thin ->fall.
Last page: mkts did not channel to appreciable extent in ancient world"
Read, Write, Run, Teach !

ShiraDest
16 February, 12016 HE

[Hristos Dagres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ένα σημαντικό βιβλίο το οποίο δείχνει τις γνώσεις και τς πρακτικές περί οικονομίας και αγοράς στην Αρχαία Αθήνα και, αργότερα, στην ελληνιστική Αλεξάνδρεια.

Το βιβλίο αποτελεί στην πραγματικότητα συρραφή δοκιμίων του Πολάνιυ - δυστυχώς, ο ίδιος δεν είχε την ευκαιρία να γράψει ένα ολοκληρωμένο βιβλίο το οποίο θα έδινε μια πληρέστερη και εναργέστερη εικόνα για τις απόψεις του Πολάνιυ σχετικά με τον τρόπο άσκησης του εμπορίου και τη λειτουργία της Αγοράς στην Αρχαία Αθήνα.

Το σημαντικότερο στοιχείο είναι ότι η "Αγορά" στην Αθήνα ΔΕΝ ήταν ενιαία - υπήρχε το "διεθνές" (ας πούμε) εμπόριο με αποικίες ή εμπορικούς σταθμούς σε ξένα βασίλεια, το οποίο ήταν αυστηρά ρυθμισμένο, υπό κεντρικό έλεγχο και αφορούσε κυρίως τα δημητριακά και άλλα εμπορεύματα καίριας σημασίας για την Πόλη και το Δήμο, και μετά υπήρχε η τοπική αγορά όπου μικρέμποροι πουλούσαν στη λιανική, και το οποίο ήταν λιγότερο ρυθμισμένο και επιβλεπόμενο, αλλά επιτρεπόταν ΜΟΝΟ σε αθηναίους πολίτες.

Το μοντέλο αυτό - εντελώς διαφορετικό από αυτό της "ελεύθερης" Αγοράς, όπου όλα εμπορευματικοποιούνται και αφήνονται στην "πρόνοια" μιας μεταφυσικής δύναμης (του Αόρατου Χεριού), βασιζόταν στον προσδιορισμό από το Δήμο του τι ήταν "εύλογη τιμή" για τα βασικά αγαθά που ήταν απαραίτητα για την ύπαρξη της Πόλης και με αφετηρία αυτό, προσδιορίζονταν η οικονομική, εσωτερική και εξωτερική πολιτική της Πόλης. Στόχος ήταν η αδιατάρακτη ροή βασικών αγαθών στην Πόλη, σε τιμές προκαθορισμένες. Το σύστημα αυτό ήταν απολύτως επιτυχημένο, δίνοντας κοινωνική και πολιτική σταθερότητα η οποία στη συνέχεια επέτρεψε την τεράστια επιστημονική, καλλιτεχνική και πνευματική ανάπτυξη της Πόλης.

[Thomas Ray]

Library-of-Congress HC31 P59 1977 Memorial Library