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Karl Polyani

Polyani's views have exerted a decisive influence on economic anthropology and the economic history of the ancient world through his comparative study of economic institutions as outlined in his "Trade and Market in Early empires". His belief that in pre-capitalist societies the economy is embedded in social relationships governed by values other than concern for profit has clear affinities with the functionalism of Malinowski and Talcott Parsons. He gave a Weberian typology of exchange systems-reciprocity, house holding, redistribution and market exchange. As a utilitarian theorist to him the basic concern of modern society was to combine socialist economic planning with individual freedom

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Major Works:
The Great transformation(1944)
The Livelihood of man(1977)
Current Affairs Magazine