Moral Economy, States, and Counter-movements: The Contemporary Relevance of Counter-movements Theories in the Twenty-First-Century Capitalism

Abstract

With the spread of market fundamentalism, the notions of moral economy and counter-movements have resurfaced in the literature of sociological theories. This article compares three classic moral economists―Karl Polanyi, E. P. Thompson, and James Scott―to discuss the contemporary relevance of the Polanyian theory of counter-movements in twenty-first-century capitalism. First, it stresses the interactions between popular contention and state interventions as critical to building successful counter-movements. Second, it argues for the successful extension (rather than the demise) of the moral economy struggles from the local to the national scale, with workers’ movements making protective demands as national citizens, including labor rights and social citizenship rights. Third, it suggests that workers and peasants voluntarily organized non-institutionalized or rule-violating collective protests with the rise of neoliberalism. These protests, in turn, can create favorable conditions to foster class compromise and expand welfare. This article concludes by stressing the importance of the moral economy approach to understanding the class struggle and class compromise under contemporary capitalism.