Making the Market: The Characters of Izmailovo Market

Abstract

Abstract: What are the social processes that lead up to the moment of sale in Izmailovo Market, Moscow? Selling may seem like a ubiquitous practice, but it is one constructed in the context and incorporates localised understandings of labour, community and morality. In a post-Socialist setting, the social relations between sellers will illuminate the ways in which they perform labour ‘trud’. I will demonstrate how there is a coexistence of both individual pursuit and collective considerations. Subsequently, these aims should not be seen as opposing - as selling is an embodied skill that the person facilitates.

Key words: Market, Post-Socialist, Economy, Selling, Moral