Karl Polanyi’s vision of sociology and knowledge of society in the age of data analytics

• In Event: 2461 - History of Sociology/Social Thought: Fresh Perspectives on Classic Works

Abstract

This paper uses Karl Polanyi’s early work of the 1920s as a focus to explore the knowledge and data infrastructure of the contemporary digital economy as instruments of oversight. It does so by engaging with recent arguments that some of these technologies of knowledge challenge the role of the market as the only and hence indispensable supra-human information processor. This line of reasoning seems to suggest that measuring subjective valuations via collectively used platforms, tracking devices and data analytics could open up new ways of commensurating values and might yield a new type of political authority. Polanyi’s reflections on the role of sociology, accounting, theoretical and social knowledge of society, whilst dating back almost a century, prove to be inspiring for thinking through problems of our days. A central concern in his attempt to develop a form of accounting for a socialist economy is the problem of ‘overview’, of how to gain knowledge of the elements of the economic process in such a way that the social costs and benefits of the use-values produced can be determined. In contrast to mere aggregate utilities, social value can only be accounted for if the interdependency between production and consumption, the sacrifices and hardships of work and benefits of consumption become transparent for social members themselves. Polanyi’s notions are helpful for critically questioning the forms of overview presented by (consumer) data analytics.

Author

• Silvia Rief, Harvard University