"Nineteenth-century civilization rested on four institutions. The first was the balance-of-power system which for a century prevented the occurrence of any long and devastating war between the Great Powers. The second was the international gold standard which symbolized a unique organization of world economy. The third was the self-regulating market which produced an unheard-of material welfare. The fourth was the liberal state. Classified in one way, two of these institutions were economic, two political. Classified in another way, two of them were national, two international. Between them they determined the characteristic outlines of the history of our civilization. Of these institutions the gold standard proved crucial; its fall was the proximate cause of the catastrophe. By the time it failed, most of the other institutions had been sacrificed in a vain effort to save it. But the fount and matrix of the system was the self-regulating market. It was this innovation which gave rise to a specific civilization."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Historians from the United StatesImmigrants to the United StatesAnthropologists from the United StatesSociologists from the United StatesEconomists from Hungary
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 1 : The Hundred Years' Peace
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Polanyi
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Karl Polanyi
Karl Paul Polanyi (October 25, 1886 – April 23, 1964) was a Hungarian-American economic historian, economic anthropologist, political economist, historical sociologist and social philosopher.
75 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Karl Polanyi →
Related Quotes
"Bentham possessed neither the sleek complacency of a Townsend nor the all too precipitate historicism of a Burke, Rat…"
"The change of atmosphere from Adam Smith to Townsend was, indeed, striking. The former marked the close of an age whi…"
"A bare outline of the objective nature of Fascism thus tends to support our interpretation of its philosophy. The Fas…"
"Both the personnel and the motives of this singular body invested it with a status the roots of which were securely g…"
"The true nature of the international system under which we were living was not realized until it failed. Hardly anyon…"
"At the heart of the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century there was an almost miraculous improvement in the…"
"Enclosures have appropriately been called a revolution of the rich against the poor. The lords and nobles were upsett…"
"The Industrial Revolution was merely the beginning of a revolution as extreme and radical as ever inflamed the minds …"
"The conclusion, though weird, is inevitable; nothing less will serve the purpose: obviously, the dislocation caused b…"
"Edmund Burke was a man of different stature. Where men like Townsend failed in a small way, he failed in a great way.…"