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Particularly since 1980, the movement of laissez-faire has been in the ascendant in the form of “neo-liberalism”, “market fundamentalism” or the “Washington consensus”. Yet at the same time, at multiple levels of politics–local, national, regional, and global- we also see counter movements that have sought to check, control, or modify the impact of market forces. 1ĢMany contemporary analysts have found this formulation useful to understand global developments of the last thirty years (Berman 2006, Blyth 2002, Bugra and Agartan 2007, Evans 2008, Silver and Arrighi 2003).

1 This essay builds on Block (2000), Block (2003), Block (2007), Block (forthcoming) and Somers and (.)ġKarl Polanyi argued in The Great Transformation (2001 )that the development of market societies over the past two hundred years has been shaped by a double movement. On one side is the movement of laissez faire-the efforts by a variety of groups to expand the scope and influence of self-regulating markets. On the other side has been the movement of protection–the initiatives, again by a wide range of social actors, to insulate the fabric of social life from the destructive impact of market pressures. What we think of as market societies or “capitalism” is the product of both of these movements  it is an uneasy and fluid hybrid that reflects the shifting balance of power between these contending forces.On one side is the movement of laissez faire-the efforts by a variety of groups to expand the scope and influence of self-regulating markets. On the other side has been the movement of protection–the initiatives, again by a wide range of social actors, to insulate the fabric of social life from the destructive impact of market pressures. The essay starts by laying out the broad outlines of the double movement idea, and then it elaborates the micro-foundations of the protective counter movement to explain how agents sometimes have the opportunity, the power, and the capacity to challenge and change the institutional structures of market societies. After examining barriers to the mobilization of a protective counter movement, the final section explores the possibilities of moving beyond the double movement.

Karl Polanyi argued in The Great Transformation (2001 )that the development of market societies over the past two hundred years has been shaped by a double movement.