Luetchford, Peter (2019) Just prices? Challenging values at an organic cooperative in southern Spain. Research in Economic Anthropology, 39. pp. 91-112. ISSN 0190-1281

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Abstract

This paper documents the case of La Verde, a producer cooperative in Andalusia, Southern Spain, whose members grow and sell organic fruit and vegetables. Fieldwork data reveals a range of assessments and practices with respect to just price. Historical experiences of working as day laborers, with little access to cash or other resources informs the members’ radical political views on money, prices, and markets. These ideas modulate exchanges at the local level, and in their political networks. However, working their own land and selling a prized product allows them to generate good market returns from private shopkeepers in cities. The paper proposes that for a price to be considered just, criteria for commensuration, or equivalence between a price and the perceived value of an object must adhere, but adjudications about this vary according to the relationship between exchangers. Rather than defining an objective just price, the paper considers assessments and judgements about the relation between prices and justice to be contextually defined, contested and negotiated.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	ISBN: 9781787435742
Schools and Departments:	School of Global Studies > Anthropology
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Sharon Krummel
Date Deposited:	21 Jan 2019 14:46
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2021 11:44
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78702

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