Notes on Polanyi's Double-Movement Thesis: Conflict Conditions and Epistemological Considerations

Abstract

Karl Polanyi's double movement provides a classic macroscopic narrative for understanding market expansion and social backlash. Nevertheless, it remains a descriptive historical framework lacking micro‑level behavioral logic, causal boundaries, and epistemological reflection. Existing literature has sufficiently discussed relative deprivation and elite capture as common limitations of Polanyi's dualistic structure. This paper avoids redundant repetition of established criticisms and concentrates on two main arguments laid out below. This paper presents two main arguments. First, it establishes a three‑dimensional game‑chip structure that endogenizes institutional rules, informal social ties and personal endowments as contestable chips, explaining the boundary conditions of social conflict and distinguishing individual endurance from collective resistance. Second, it elaborates a neglected epistemological connection: voluntary market order provides the empirical foundation for quantitative econometric modeling, whereas power‑dominated allocation fundamentally undermines the feasibility of mathematical measurement. This study develops Polanyi's historical narrative into a rigorous qualitative mechanism for institutional‑change analysis.