nick

Reconciling economic prosperity and discontent is difficult. People point to Trump/Brexit/Occupy as examples of anger. This fails to explain anything. How do we explain their economic motivations? Is income/wealth inequality really the problem?pic.twitter.com/C4YB2qUkFX

Polyani explains how we can reconcile the two using the idea of "economic prejudice". This has two parts. 1 - Wealth got redefined in terms of market value (property, wages) instead of traditional metrics (common land, social ties AND capital). Blurrier forms were excluded.pic.twitter.com/aDRW7WQ9MN

2 - Over time, quality of life becomes an economic concern especially re:pursuing policy. Since economics no longer includes traditional forms of sustenance then the realm of politics also stops asking about those more “social” things.pic.twitter.com/b9CTkXxgyn

Only some explanations are allowed to explain capitalism & discontent. ProCap: People getting richer so no economic complaints. It is x (x is political) AntiCap: People are angry because of poverty/inequality. Fix the market. (2) ensures the solution is economically prejudicedpic.twitter.com/R2OvQLXH32

What does Polyani mean by capitalism? Market society. We've always had markets but they were meditated by social relations. Wealth mattered insofar as it protected the individual's social standing, social assets and social claims. Markets were embedded within social relations.pic.twitter.com/wZ4uiJ5ZWa

Market societies came about with the dissolution of social relations. They could not be measured and were ignored. Modern market society was established by removal of political protections and the creation of a labor market. Now, social relations were embedded within markets.pic.twitter.com/go639LydRl