301050 Reading Course Karl Polanyi. The Great Transformation (S) (WiSe 2019/2020)

In this class we will read on of the most influential classics of economic sociology: „The Great Transformation“ by Karl Polanyi. In his seminal book he analyses the political, cultural and social conflicts occurring with the emergence of capitalism, the market economy and the nation state in England at the end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. His theoretical interest lies on how capitalism has transformed the basic relationship between the market and the society, the economic and the social, towards an ongoing disembeddedness of the market from society and a dominance of the market over the social. By this cultural approach to economics focussing on the entanglement of culture and economic practices he laid the grounds for an economic sociology as an alternative to mainstream economic thought. Concepts like commodification and de-commodification, labour as a fictitious commodity, embeddedness and disembeddedness are gaining more and more importance in today’s economic sociology.

Requirements for participation, required level

Participants must have basic knowledge in the area of the sociology of work (e.g. having completed an introductory course in 'sociology of work' or having read an introductory book). Seminar language English.