Karl Polanyi and the antinomies of embeddedness

Abstract

While Polanyi argues that all economies are embedded and enmeshed in social relations and institutions, he tends to see market economy as disembedded, which reveals a tension in his thought. The main motivation for this paper is to understand the origins of this tension. On the basis of a systematic formulation of Polanyi's work, it is argued that Polanyi employs embeddedness in a dual manner: (a) as a methodological principle akin to methodological holism, and (b) as a theoretical proposition on the changing place of economy in society. These two formulations of embeddedness contradict each other. After tracing out the origins of this contradiction, this paper concludes by considering the implications of this analysis for economic sociology. It is argued that embeddedness as a methodological principle is the only acceptable usage of the term. Yet, in this capacity, embeddedness falls short of economic sociology's goal of providing a theoretical alternative to neoclassical economics.