Karl Polanyi as a spatial theorist

ABSTRACT

The ‘spatial’ turn in political economy has re-invigorated Marxian analysis, allowing for new research programmes into urbanization, geopolitics, and social movement activity amongst other topics. This tendency emerged through a critical re-reading of Marx and Gramsci, amongst others, uncovering spatial analyses embedded in the logic of their arguments. Conversely, Karl Polanyi’s interlocutors have tended to add geographical analysis as an additional layer of theory, reading space ‘in’ to the text. However, a close reading reveals that a concern with space permeates Polanyi’s analysis. As such, it is possible to read space ‘out’ of Polanyi, adding a level of theoretical rigour and logical consistency when applying his insights to geographic topics. This article carries out an exegesis of Karl Polanyi’s work, uncovering a theoretical framework that deals with space, place, scale, fixity, and motion. From this vantage point, the article considers the potential implications of this new geographical reading of Polanyi.

KEYWORDS:

• Polanyi
• international political economy
• space
• scale
• geography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Philip Roberts

Philip Roberts is an Associate Lecturer in Development Politics at the University of York, UK. His primary research is on international political economy and development, and specifically on the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil under Neo-Developmentalism. Key topics explored include Gramsci, Lefebvre, food sovereignty, critical pedagogy, and post-neoliberalism. His doctorate is from the Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney, Australia.