The second great transformation and the future of the American left

Abstract

The world economy is well along in a second “great transformation” in which the commodification processes of the first great transformation, as originally described by Karl Polanyi, are still present. Meanwhile, the world’s democracies are in the midst of a great “counter-movement”, a political backlash against unchecked commodification. The reactionary variant of the counter-movement is right-wing populism. The progressive variant is only beginning to take shape. The essay surveys the institutional context and ideological dilemmas that confront the American left at this moment and argues in favor of left-wing populism oriented towards a deepening of American democracy.