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Sheena Kennedy PADM6112 Noteconomicexploitation,asisoftenassumed,butthedisintegrationofthecultural environmentofthevictimisthenthecauseofthedegradation.Theeconomicprocess may,naturally,supplythevehicleofthedestruction...buttheimmediatecauseofhis undoingisnotforthatreasoneconomic;itliesinthelethalinjurytotheinstitutionsin whichhissocialexistenceisembodied.Theresultislossofselfrespectandstandards, whethertheunitisapeopleoraclass,whethertheprocessspringsfromsocalled culturalconNlictorfromachangeinthepositionofaclasswithintheconNinesofa society.1
Polanyisassessmentoftheintrinsicsimilaritiesbetweencataclysmiceventsinthe
Polanyisanalysisofcolonialism?itswellwithinthebroaderframeworklaidoutintheTheGreat Transformationand,infact,Polanyiuseshistoricalcasestudiesofprecolonialsocietiesto illustratepartofhisthesisthateconomicsystemsaresociallyandculturallyconstructed;andwecan extendhisanalysistosaythatthereareotherwaysoforganizingsocietiesandeconomiesthatare sociallyandculturallyconstructivewaysthatreinforcestrengthinhumanrelationshipsaswellas balanceintherelationshipbetweenthehumanandphysicalenvironment.Thisisusefulboth becauseitallowsfordiversityandalsobecauseitallowsdynamicchange.Thereisnot,then,one pathtowardswhichallsocietiesmustmove.Thischallenges,ofcoursethenotionthatthereisone universalorganizingprincipleofsociety. Itisapowerfulstatementthatthedegradationoftheculturalenvironmentofapeoples
resultsinthelossofselfrespectandstandardsonethatneedsconsiderablymoreunpackingthan
1KarlPolanyi.2001.TheGreatTransformation:ThePoliticalandEconomicOriginsofOurTime.Boston:BeaconPress,164.
forces,Polanyidoesofferaglimmerofhopebyleavingthedooropentoagencyandthepotentialfor whathelatercallssocialrestoration2Thissmallsliveroflightthroughacrackinthedoorhinges
2Ibid,168.
3Fatal:causingdeathCambridgeDictionariesOnline.Availableat:http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/