Martin Beddeleem Canadian Centre for German and European Studies (CCGES) Université de Montréal martin.beddeleem@umontreal.ca
Conference Paper Is liberalism a static creed? The Great Transformation faced with the neoliberal project
The purpose of this paper is twofold.1 The first intention is to demonstrate that Karl Polanyi interpreted the liberal creed as a secular religion which filled man s spiritual universe. This new
faith (GT: 141)2 as he called it, born out of the dark Satanic mills of the )ndustrial Revolution,
hinged on the single principle of the self-regulating market (similar to predestination for the
Calvinists) which spurred the ideology of laissez-faire capitalism. Polanyi exposed the peculiar springs of the economic theodicy which provided the dominant structure of the economic ethics of the 19th century in the midst of the breaking down of the old civilization (GT: 3). The selfregulating market was the fount and matrix of the system and gave rise to a specific civilization GT:
. This new market civilization or industrial civilization
GT: 258) followed
a post-Christian era of Western civilization […], in which the Gospels did not any more suffice,
and yet remained the basis of our civilization GT: 268). The spiritual function of economic liberalism was thus primordial for its development and success.
In the second part, I contend however that Polanyi s analysis makes comparison with presentday liberalism difficult. I will show that, while retaining a façade utopianism, neoliberalism
1 I would like to acknowledge the support of the FQRSC for this research. I want to thank Augustin Simard for the feedback on the
initial insight that led to this essay. 2 All quotes from the Great Transformation (GT) taken from Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The political and economic
origins of our time, Boston: Beacon Press, 2001. International Conference – The Enduring Legacy of Karl Polanyi – Concordia University, Nov. 6-8, 2014.
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