Polanyian perspectives on the movements and countermovements of our time: an introduction

The chapter reflects on the transformation of capitalism we have witnessed since the 1970s, discusses the growing interest in Karl Polanyi’s masterpiece The Great Transformation and presents how the book refers to it. In particular, the economic liberalization through the post-1989 phase of globalization which resulted in the 2008/9 crisis of finance and subsequent austerity schemes has been accompanied by growing interest in Polanyian perspectives. In the first part of the chapter important strands of the discussion are recapitulated in regard to the strength of Karl Polanyi’s thought without neglecting the fact that it cannot be rediscovered and reread today without critical reflections and high attentiveness for its contextualization in time and space. The second part describes the composition of the book which combines historical and theoretical perspectives on Karl Polanyi’s work and capitalism in transformation, analyses contemporary developments in Europe and beyond and refers to the idea of “fictitious commodities†to understand the economic, ecological, social, cultural and political transformations of capitalism of “our time†.