ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns mostly Karl Polanyi's thinking laid out in The Great Transformation and the work that followed it, its relevance to the study of consumption and markets, and how his work is reflected in contemporary theorization of consumption. Karl Polanyi's work has been influential in social policy studies, economic anthropology and critical theory. In economics itself apparently his influence is miniscule; his work being picked up mostly in the fields of varieties of capitalism and comparative welfare studies. In theories of consumption from cultural perspectives Polanyi's ideas are fundamental, frequently cited, yet often only in passing. Polanyi's ideas seem to resurface and go back to oblivion in cycles. Interestingly, and ironically, this seems to follow the booms and bust cycle of the global economic system. Many others use Polanyi's ideas as a foundation for an approach to markets and consumption as socially and culturally based.
