Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie / Karl Polanyi and the Global Network Inspired by His Work

Abstract

Marguerite Mendell is the Director of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy Montreal. Many awards show the extraordinary relevance of her work: Member, Order of Canada; Officer, Order of Québec; laureate Prix Québec, Marie-Andrée Bertrand and Prix ACFAS, Pierre Dansereaux. She is one of the most prominent protagonists of research and discussions about the problems of "our time" (Polanyi) referring to Karl Polanyis work. Furthermore, it has been not the least her engagement in building up the Karl Polanyi archive which enables us to get insights in his work and biography. For so many institutions and persons Marguerite Mendell is the first address to get in touch with the worldwide Karl Polanyi community, a pluralistic, open minded network giving space for many initiatives of established and young scholars and people from civil society interested in developing perspectives for a better world by putting economy in its place instead of the market driven "demolition of society" (Polanyi). Besides Marguerite Mendells work on the legacy of Karl Polanyi and in the global Polanyi community, her own research agenda is not less impressive in the field of the social and solidarity economy. On the occasion of the foundation of the International Karl Polanyi Society Vienna on 8 May 2018 we invited her to give this interview which allows us to get a lot of insights in her impressive work. ; Refereed/Peer-reviewed ; (VLID)3658616 ; Version of record