Karl Polanyi: biography of this Austro-Hungarian anthropologist and economist.

A review of the life and work of Karl Polanyi, a social scientist critical of capitalism.

We owe some of the great advances in the field of anthropology in the 20th century to Karl Polanyi. This researcher addressed diverse areas of knowledge, linked to economics, anthropology and social sciences in general, and his influence on the scientific community is still present today.

Through this biography of Karl Polanyi we will make a journey through the most significant events of his life and we will know in detail some of the most important contributions he made in different scientific disciplines throughout his career.

Brief biography of Karl Polanyi

Karl Polanyi was born in 1886 in Vienna, now the capital of Austria, in the now defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire.. His family professed the Jewish religion and were in a good socioeconomic position. Karl's mother, Cecile Wohl, was originally from Russia and was a respected figure among the country's intellectual circles. His father, Michael Pollacsek, was an engineer and had his own company.

In addition, Karl had a younger brother, Michael Polanyi, who as an adult would become a respected chemist and philosopher, a sign that the whole family had a devotion to knowledge.

Youth

Karl Polanyi studied law and philosophy, becoming a doctor of philosophy at the University of Budapest.D., at the University of Budapest. During his time at the university he began to feel attracted by the socialist doctrines. He went on to found a movement, the Galilei Circle, together with his brother and others, in which they launched proclamations in favor of the independence of Hungary, which at that time was united with Austria. Likewise, he also decided to expand his political ideas through a magazine he edited at the university, the Sczabadgondolat.

After the outbreak of World War I, Karl Polanyi enlisted in the army as a cavalry officer.. With the conflict came the independence of Hungary, whose social democratic government in 1918 was supported by Polanyi. But the joy was short-lived, because only a year later the country became one of the satellite socialist republics of the USSR, so Karl Polanyi decided to go into exile in Vienna, his hometown, now part of Austria, an independent country.

Transfer to Vienna

Once back in Vienna, Karl Polanyi met Ilona Duczynska, a communist activist, who became his wife in 1923.. Already in his new home, Polanyi began to write articles in Der Oesterreichische Volkswirt, a publication on economics in which he defended Christian socialist ideas and the Fabian Society (an English socialist movement) as opposed to the liberal Austrian School.

In line with his activism, he decided to use his own home to hold a series of workshops in which he advocated the benefits of socialism in economics.. Karl Polanyi was in favor of a collectivized economic system, without reaching the centralism of the purest socialism. To this end, Polanyi supported the municipal administrations and their power to distribute the resources of their specific area of action.

Through these workshops, in which political and economic systems were discussed, he came into conflict with another famous Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises, who supported liberal ideas and therefore defended ideals that clashed head-on with Karl Polanyi's ideas.

But these were turbulent years in Europe. Fascism was beginning to appear in some countries, including Austria, where it came to power.Fascism was beginning to appear in some countries, including Austria, where it came to power and forced many people, including Karl Polanyi, into exile. It all started because of his pro-socialist writings in the magazine where he worked. He was told to give up this activity. After the pressures and anticipating the situation that was about to come to the country, Polanyi decided to move to England.

Years in London, USA and Canada

Despite pressure to leave the paper, Karl Polanyi continued to serve as editor, this time from London, which he chose as his new home. This new location allowed him to become more involved in the English socialist movements, and he even participated in the creation of the book and even participated in the creation of the book Christianity and Social Revolution, writing an article for the book entitled The Essence of Fascism.

In addition to his work as an article writer, he also began to teach, giving classes at the Worker Educational Association. These classes were aimed at adults at Oxford University and London University. Part of the lessons corresponded to the economic history of England, so it was a very useful material for what later would be one of his most recognized works: The Great Transformation, a book he would write through a Rockefeller scholarship provided by the United States.

In 1947, Karl Polanyi began working as a visiting professor at Columbia University in the United States, teaching economics and econometrics.. But a problem arose: the government of that country did not grant a visa to Polanyi's wife, because of her past as a communist revolutionary, a tendency that was absolutely forbidden in the United States. Therefore, they had no choice but to take up residence in the city of Toronto, Canada.

It was in this way that Karl Polanyi spent his last years as a professor, moving routinely between Toronto and New York, until in 1953 he finally moved to the United States.He finally retired in 1953. But this did not mean the end of Karl's activity, since the Ford Foundation financed him to continue publishing works, in this case related to the economic history of ancient civilizations.

In this way and in collaboration with other researchers, Karl Polanyi was able to publish Trade and Market in Ancient Empires, a work that is considered the forerunner of anthropological substantialist ideas. Together with his wife, he also wrote a volume on Hungarian literature in 1963. His last publications were through the journal Coexistence.

Karl Polanyi visited Hungary in 1963, more than four decades after he had had to leave his homeland.. A year later, back in Canada, he died. It was 1964. Some time later, in 1977, a work was published posthumously, called "The Livelihood of Man". In this volume were collected articles and unpublished writings, most of them coming from his classes, and which were an extension of the work of Commerce and Market.

The economic vision in his works

Karl Polanyi's works crystallized his economic and anthropological thinking. For example, in "The Great Transformation" he attempts to explain the variables that led to World War I, moving from a reasonably stable period of peace to one in which social and economic crisis led the world into the two greatest wars of all time.The Great Transformation, moving from a reasonably stable period of peace to one in which social and economic crisis led the world into the two greatest wars it has ever known.

Some of the concepts he explores in this book are the rise of totalitarian political movements throughout Europe or the fall of the gold standard, among others. For him, economic liberalism is a mere utopia.If it had been established, it would have led to the collapse of the political systems of our societies.

In other of his best works, such as "Trade and Market in Ancient Empires" or in "The Livelihood of Man", Karl Polanyi focuses on capitalism, stating that this doctrine does not favor exchange and that it has caused the economy to separate itself from all other social relations, taking a dominant position vis-à-vis all of them. The way he sees the economy in pre-capitalist societies is what he calls embedded economy.

Polanyi speaks of three basic elements that must occur in economic exchanges, and they are that of reciprocity, moving resources in both directions; redistribution, transporting those resources first to the center and then to the outside; and finally that of exchange, which symbolizes the movements between resources that must occur between the different points of the market.

As for markets, Karl Polanyi establishes a differentiation between them and the mercantile system itself.which would be a more modern concept that would allow the former to be integrated, forming economies of a national or supranational character. In theory, the mercantile system would be regulated automatically, but the reality is that it requires the help of authorities that regulate it in a certain way.

Influence on other authors

Polanyi's figure is still relevant today. Economists of our time, such as Carles Manera, affirm that his legacy must be taken into account and advocate the recovery of the democratic socialism that this author defended almost a century ago. Authors such as Thomas Pikkety have continued along Polanyi's path and have extrapolated his discourse to the socialist model. and have extrapolated his discourse to the economic conditions of today's society.

Lo cierto es que una figura cuya obra sigue teniendo repercusión a pesar del paso de los años, debe ser valorada como merece.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Block, F. (2003). Karl Polanyi and the writing of The Great Transformation. Theory and society. Springer.
• Dale, G. (2010). Karl Polanyi: The limits of the market.
• Gemici, K. (2008). Karl Polanyi and the antinomies of embeddedness. Socio-economic review.
• North, D.C. (1977). Markets and other allocation systems in history: the challenge of Karl Polanyi. Journal of European Economic History.
• Polanyi-Levitt, K., Mendell, M. (1987). Karl Polanyi: His life and times. Studies in Political Economy. Taylor & Francis.