Rowan Alcock

DPhil @UniofOxford. Post-Doc @Tsinghua_Uni.
Currently @HongKongPolyU and on Bsky.
Research -- Karl Polanyi, China, Food, Environment.

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

Great to have my first Open Access article published thanks to @HongKongPolyU ! Have a read 😀
https://t.co/oMbwbjsGSc

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

@kpolanyisociety
@theKarlPolanyi
@EconSociology
@margaret_somers
@kpolanyi
@primeeconomics
@GBGoodwin

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

Really pleased to have this article published in the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 🥳- a case-study of a Chinese countermovement and implications for a larger double movement in rural China.

https://t.co/AR7fjpdQL6

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

@kpolanyisociety @theKarlPolanyi @EconSociology
@wim_carton @margaret_somers @kpolanyi @oikeios @adam_tooze @primeeconomics @GBGoodwin

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

Great to have my first Open Access article published thanks to @HongKongPolyU ! Have a read 😀
https://t.co/oMbwbjsGSc

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.

We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.

I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers:
1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.”
2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”

He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.

He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.

He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.

Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?

I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.

Some were. But not all.

This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together.

Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities
society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.

That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.

We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.

Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.

And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.

I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.

Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.

If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.

And by then, it will be too late.

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

@labourlewis Would love your thoughts on these articles on Karl Polanyi's double movement, I think they map well on to exacty what you have said, its not necessariy ideological it is something else:

https://t.co/ESQAJ329FJ

https://t.co/WwlOSVcRWf

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

'the group warned that the future economic outlook may be significantly worse. “It cannot be excluded that the economic effects of climate change might turn out to be even more severe than visualised...for instance, if certain tipping points are reached,” the report said'

[Guardian Environment @guardianeco]

Climate breakdown will hit global growth by a third, say central banks https://t.co/xUNBNsYDqp

[Dr Charlie Gardner (also on the blue place) @CharlieJGardner]

1/ We're rightly terrified of feedback loops and tipping processes in the climate system - but what about climate feedbacks in our social and economic systems?
🧵

[Dr. Aaron Thierry @ThierryAaron]

"I think the scientific community has done well on the science, but has done really very badly, dangerously badly, & deluded people, about how serious the challenges for us to reduce our emissions [are]- profound changes to buisness as usual" @KevinClimate
https://t.co/gv9V5OOzo6

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

The End.

[Damian Carrington @dpcarrington]

Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?

- The sudden collapse of carbon sinks was not factored into climate models and could rapidly accelerate global heating

#climatecrisis
Story by @pgreenfielduk
https://t.co/VAa3QJAH9F

[Rachel Donald @CrisisReports]

The Paris Agreement is Dead.

Earth systems scientist James Dyke returns to the show to reveal how 'climate' policies made the world hotter than ever.

Full episode at: https://t.co/Sh50NyL0vH

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

When you dig into the hidden detail of the government's carbon capture and storage programme, the sheer scale of fiscal and environmental irresponsibility is hard to comprehend. We could be on the hook for £50 billion, with zero benefit. My column. 🧵 https://t.co/bXDZkX3cYK

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

English harvest second worst on record due to excessive rain. Now think about what this is likely to do to prices and food security. Climate change is here and it’s affecting how we live in ways both dramatic and more subtle.

https://t.co/AbHKVlB4km

[IPCC @IPCC_CH]

Current policies make it likely that #globalwarming will exceed 1.5°C during the 21st century & make it harder to limit warming below 2°C.

#IPCC's Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action.

👉 https://t.co/zAMzd12lR7

[Dr. Aaron Thierry @ThierryAaron]

Hi @michaeljswalker & @AaronBastani thanks for the segment on the sentencing of @JustStop_Oil activists on @novaramedia y'day.

It was great this crucial topic was covered on your show, yet I couldn't help note some of your remarks lacked key context🧵1/n
https://t.co/dP4SEG5pRs

[Damian Carrington @dpcarrington]

Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows

- Ocean acidification close to critical threshold, say scientists, posing threat to marine ecosystems and global liveability

#planetaryboundaries
Story by @damiengayle

https://t.co/HOpZzS7hu5

[Glen Peters @Peters_Glen]

Global coal use (black) compared to scenarios that limit warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot (blues).

Not quite on track...

[Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK @PIK_Climate]

Global Warming's Economic Blow: 🆕 study by PIK scientists reveals that while the poorest bear the brunt of #ClimateChange, the economic risks from erratic weather are rising more rapidly for the rich. Countries like Brazil & China face severe impacts too: https://t.co/bfgdxtL9S4

[Guardian Environment @guardianeco]

Data center emissions likely 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse? https://t.co/zeIcjX7JA4

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

This theory has also been used to look at rural China: https://t.co/3cvTxS68KY

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

Really happy to have my new article published in @GlobalizationsJ expanding on my previous articles and my re-reading of Polany's double movement theory.

50 free copies available here:

https://t.co/WwlOSVck6H

[Rowan Alcock @TweetRo4]

@kpolanyisociety @theKarlPolanyi @EconSociology @wim_carton @margaret_somers @kpolanyi @stevenmklein @KirbyPeadar @Gareth_Dale