Xiaoxi Chen Chen 1
Professor Cameron Johnston
AP/SOSC1140
12 February 2015 The Great Transformation to Market Society We are living in market society, which is so different from previous societies. In market society, the whole of society is a system of self-regulating market (Polanyi 43). In order to make the market society function, people need to think and act in certain ways(Polanyi 68). For example, people in market society think that economic relations are much more important than interpersonal relations (Polanyi 44). Polanyi calls the emergence of market society “the great transformation”. My thesis statement is that the shift to market society is a
In short, both land and labor were protected from being turned into objects for sale (Polanyi 70). Furthermore, money used to be just a symbol for exchange. These elements that used to be parts of human life have been included into the market mechanism (Polanyi 71). Previously, people interacted with markets some time but now people are actually in the market. The shift to market society is amazing because every single aspect of life has been included into the market mechanism in market society, which stands in sharp contrast to the gild system. Attaching great importance to individuality is the third characteristic of market society. For people living in market society, economic advantages are superior to other advantages; the first thing to protect is their individual wealth. This ideological change results from the material condition in market society that people all become single individuals in the factories producing goods for making more money for themselves. In this case, the economic relations rule the social relations (Rinehart 71). Under the structure of the previous social organization, however, “man’s economy... is submerged in his social relationships” (Polanyi 46). People were always concerned about their social relations within their communities (Polanyi 46). They acted so as to maintain their social values (Polanyi 46). The reason for this when it comes to the case of tribal society is that there is no need for people to care much