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5 - Markets, merchants and morality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2009

Neville Morley
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
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Summary

In modern discussions of trade, the term ‘market’ is more likely to be used to refer to an abstract, impersonal entity, in and through which ‘market forces’ dominate people's lives, than to indicate a concrete place where people buy and sell goods. The idea of a ‘farmers’ market' may seem tautologous to many inhabitants of continental Europe, let alone to the rest of the world, but in modern Britain and the United States the phrase has become indispensable as many of the original connotations of ‘market’ have been overlaid and as direct encounters between producers and consumers have become rarer. The semantic shift says something about the development of modern retailing and attitudes towards it; a visit to a ‘real’ market is now associated with a conscious rejection of the ethos of the ‘supermarket’ or with the exotic experience of holidaying in countries where people still buy fresh seasonal food every morning, rather than simply being part of our daily routine.

The ancient world had no conception of ‘the market’ in the abstract sense. Markets were familiar enough, from the fifth century if not before; indeed, there was a range of different sorts of markets, catering for different kinds of producers, consumers and goods. The tendency of prices in the market to vary was well understood, but it was not attributed to impersonal ‘market forces’; on the contrary, it was seen as the direct result either of changes in supply (most commonly, due to harvest failure or glut) or of the greed of individuals.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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