Policymaking and Learning Actors, or Is A ’Double Movement’ In Cognition Possible?

  One of the key issues in K. Polanyi’s (1944, 1957) work is that capitalist markets maybe inconsistent with societal values. This (external) inconsistency eventually leads to areaction against the rationale of the market, what Polanyi refers to with the notion of thedouble movement. The double movement, in turn, may disrupt the (internal) consistencyof the market, thereby leading to dramatic consequences for society, as was the case withfascism and nazism. A crucial question therefore is how to achieve a protective responsewithout undermining society. The paper contends that the two types of (in)consistencybasically depend on the shared knowledge available in a given society. It therefore discusseshow that knowledge arises and how actors may favor or prevent change by acting onlearning processes. The aim is to stress that a policy for change not only requires ascientific perspective that is not restricted within disciplinary boundaries, it also requiresa dialogue between social scientists, policy-makers and all those sections of society whocan be affected by a change in the status quo.