ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author makes the case for a particular reading of Karl Polanyi's understanding of market society which might be termed 'post-Polanyian', differentiating it from the neo-Polanyian approach on a number of counts. After taking some time to explore the neo-Polanyian literature in international political economy and examining its characterisation of the market/society distinction, the author explores some alternative points of entry to understanding Polanyi's thesis. He explains and develops the tension between habitation and improvement in Polanyi's work. The author suggests that it is a much better starting point for understanding the analytical thrust of the great transformation than the market/society couplet, transformation, livelihood and individuality and the way in which these themes are set against the principle of reasoning in universalised terms. He moves on to Polanyi's parallel critique of economic ideas, developing the Foucauldian theme of problematisation.
