Holmes, Christopher (2010) Economistic fallacies in contemporary capitalism : a Polanyian analysis of regimes of marketised social protection. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Karl Polanyi used the notion of economistic fallacy in order to flag up the way in
which formal definitions of the economy – rooted in the assumption of
economising, self-interested market behaviour – were routinely applied as
universal and rational by economists, political scientists, policy makers and in
general public discourse. This thesis is a critical re-application of the notion of
economistic fallacy in theoretical, historical and contemporary perspective. I
argue that, although Polanyi’s broad generalisations are unsuitable for
contemporary analysis, the same basic type of fallacy can be observed in various
specific policy settings.
Roughly speaking, the thesis comprises two halves. In the first, I focus on
theoretical matters, arguing for a consideration of Polanyi specifically as a
political economist of ideas. This, I argue, gets us closer to some of Polanyi’s
most interesting analytical intentions whilst freeing us from some of the
apparent ontological contradictions latent in his various texts. From there, I
develop Polanyi’s insights on the role of ideas in capitalist development,
foregrounding the notion of economistic fallacy as a key conceptual device. In
the second half of the thesis, I apply this analysis over three case studies, one on
global financial regulation, one on climate change and one on welfare provision
in the UK. These areas are chosen as contemporary reflections of the three
‘fictitious commodities’ that Polanyi identified as uniquely important loci of
economistically fallacious logics, namely money, land and labour.
In each case, I note how specific versions of economistic fallacy have guided
policies that aim to deliver forms of social protection via market mechanisms
and market actors – what I call ‘marketised social protection’. This is in
distinction to the straightforward (often state-led) societal self-protection that
Polanyi and latter-day Polanyians have typically focused upon. I argue that the
policies discussed are economistically fallacious to the extent that they rely on
unrealistic, overly rationalist assumptions about the nature of society, the
natural environment and people, respectively. I show instead how the dynamics
of capital accumulation that such regimes serve to legitimate and protect –
dynamics that I refer to as forms of ‘market self-protection’ – act to continually
undermine the success of such policy programmes. This, I argue, is a distinctive
tension in the ideational and material landscape of contemporary capitalism.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Polanyi, Karl, 1886-1964 -- Criticism and interpretation, Capitalism, Great Britain -- Economic policy -- Case studies
Official Date:	July 2010
Dates:	Date Event July 2010 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Watson, Matthew, 1969- ; Brassett, James
Sponsors:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Extent:	368 leaves
Language:	eng

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