Market society is the outcome of an economic machine that they liken to clockwork. While Polanyi was himself far from being an economic liberal, he believed markets have a legitimate place within society. Humans are motivated primarily by a quest for social standing, he argued, and not material gain. Hence markets are a peripheral feature of normal society. The pursuit of material gain only takes place where wealth determines social status.
Affluence is to be displayed rather than enjoyed.
In nineteenth century Britain, nouveau riche capitalists did not seek to overthrow or outdo the landed gentry. The social anthropologist understood that humans are fundamentally cooperative beings, and that human societies naturally seek to form institutions that confer social and economic protection. Protection means supporting producers who are a part of one's own society. And protection means security, including social security. Unlike protection which is a natural human impulse, the market system is an artificial construct of the human intellect.