Karl Polanyi on Ethics and Economics: Foreword by Marguerite Mendell

by Gregory Baum

Exploring Polanyi's lesser-known works as well as The Great Transformation, Baum provides a more complete and nuanced understanding of Polanyi's thought. He examines Polanyi's interpretation of modern economic and social history, clarifies the ethical presuppositions present in Polanyi's work, and addresses how Polanyi's understanding of the relation between ethics and economics touches on many issues relevant to the contemporary debate about the world's economic future. Baum argues that we should look to Polanyi's understanding of modern capitalism to reinstate the social discourse and, in political practice, the principles of reciprocity and solidarity. He points to examples, both in Canada and abroad, of attempts to formulate alternative models of economic development and to create new forms of institutional and cultural intervention. Karl Polanyi on Ethics and Economics provides fascinating insights into Polanyi's work and today's central social and political issues. It will be of great interest to sociologists, economists, political scientists, and philosophers.

Genres: Philosophy, Economics

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Gerhard Albert Baum (1923–2017), better known as Gregory Baum, was a German-born Canadian priest and theologian in the Roman Catholic Church. He became known in North America and Europe in the 1960s for his work on ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, and the relationship between the Catholic Church and Jews. In the later 1960s, he went to the New School for Social Theory in New York and became a sociologist, which led to his work on creating a dialogue between classical sociology (Marx, Tocqueville, Durkheim, Toennies, Weber, etc.) and Christian theology.

In the 1970s, he welcomed the insights of the Theology of Liberation that came from Latin America and other societies. He also became interested in the work of Karl Mannheim and developed a program of ideology critique that he hoped would eliminate the ideological elements in religion, especially those elements that preached contempt for others and allowed Christians to remain unmoved by the suffering of the victims of social injustice and structural violence.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Baum continued his study into ideology critique by integrating the work of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. He connected the Frankfurt School's concept of "the end of innocent critique" with the Catholic Church's "preferential option for the poor". Both concepts extended his interest in ideology critique. Since Baum has always been interested in social ethics, he also studied the work of Karl Polanyi, with whom he sympathized greatly.

Reviews

[graceofgod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't agree with everything in it, but it was well-written and useful nonetheless.