Polanyian Reconstruction of Long Waves or Marxian Intervention in Pendulums

Marxist long-wave theoretical frameworks, such as Mandel’s works, the social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory, the world-system approach, and the regulation school, are epistemologically separate from the Kondratieff waves. After the econometric analysis of Kondratieff became famous, however, all long-wave theoretical frameworks fell under the shadow of his procedure. It poses some theoretical and empirical difficulties in capturing time-space coherence in the Marxist analyses of long waves. An epistemological rupture with Kondratieff is needed to overcome these problems and substitute Kondratieff’s waves with Polanyi’s pendulums, which could serve as leverage to overcome the space-time problem in long-wave studies. Such a chronological reconstruction opens the way for an interaction between the Polanyian double movement and Marxist long-wave calculations. This process can also be interpreted as a Marxist intervention in Polanyian pendulums. Thus, it can be shown that the essential factors driving the pendulum movements are the recurrent legitimacy crises, socioeconomic turmoil, class struggle, local and global exploitations, and asymmetrical power relations.