Karl Marx and Karl Polanyi assumptions on Market economy

Abstract

Polanyi has long been considered an heir to Marxist thought. Yet despite commonalities between the two, it appears that Polanyi includes in his theories a Christian dimension rejected by Marx and that thus creates points of divergence. In both Polanyi and Marx we find the same conception of as inclusive and dependent on the market. For Marx, is a hostile confrontation between the divergent economic interests of two groups: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in the capitalist system. Societal dynamics are centred on the exploitation of the dominated by the dominant. Polanyi is, of course, in accord with Marx's emphasis on these developments, but he questions the prominent position of the latter in his analysis of the social process. Thus, according to Polanyi, Marx does not take sufficient account of the great diversity of non-Western devices for material production, and their links with other important aspects of the social process. For Polanyi, society is a complex reality consisting of relatively autonomous sets of diverse institutional structures, which vary greatly in time and space.