Karl Polanyi and the formation of this generation's new Left

摘要

Polanyi was a visionary thinker. He sought a "world where people don't try to control others for personal gain, but instead co-operate so that everyone can flourish".36 He did not say much about the strategy and tactics to achieve this world. But he did seek to release our political imagination by elaborating the basic idea that the market system, historically, is only one of several ways of integrating society with economy - and a relatively recent one at that. Non-market institutional arrangements have provided a basis for people to live satisfying lives in the past, and they will do so again in the future.37