Beyond the Pendulum: Feminist Institutionalism and Polanyi’s Framework for a Non-Teleological Economic Theory

In light of the generalized crisis facing society today—including social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental challenges—this paper aligns with Feminist Institutionalists in their effort to develop an economic theory that addresses the complexities of the 21st century.Such a theory’s understanding of institutional transformations challenges Fukuyama’s view of capitalism as the "end of history." To this end, the paper argues that a Feminist Institutionalist reformulation of Karl Polanyi’s concepts of social transformation provides a robust theoretical framework for understanding societal change in a non-teleological and dynamic manner