Polanyi puts forward the argument that economic activity is embedded within a social and economic context. This allows a reader of The Great Transformation to start thinking about how markets evolve, develop and change in terms of processes of what Karl Polanyi calls the embedding and dis-embedding of market forces.
“This is one of Polanyi’s central concepts,” explains Ben. “The idea of the double movement that characterises the market society. On the one hand you’ve got the forces of economic liberalism seeking to spread and expand the role and the remit of market forces - freeing up labour markets for example - but on the other hand you have a sort of backlash from society, as society is subjected to ever more dislocation; there’s a call for social protection and the setting up of welfare state institutions for example to protect vulnerable citizens.”