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Just prices? Challenging values at an organic cooperative in southern Spain

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 15:03 authored by Peter Luetchford
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.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Research in Economic Anthropology

ISSN

0190-1281

Publisher

Emerald

Volume

39

Page range

91-112

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Notes

ISBN: 9781787435742

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-01-21

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-06-28

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-01-18

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