{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "The thing about trying to say \"death to the market\" in Armenian (and I assume any number of other languages) is that 99% of the...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/181759378228/", "html": "

quoms:

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quoms:

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The thing about trying to say \u201cdeath to the market\u201d in Armenian (and I assume any number of other languages) is that 99% of the time when people say \u201cmarket,\u201d shuka, they don\u2019t mean any sort of abstract phenomenon but just the place they go to buy groceries. Literal, physical markets, the sort of thing we have to call a \u201cfarmer\u2019s market\u201d in the US - clearly distinguished in the Armenian language from shops, khanutner, and supermarkets, supermarketner - are still very present as an Institution here

And so if you want to blame the market for things, and you use the \u201ccorrect\u201d word instead of saying market, you end up sounding like you\u2019re very specifically mad at a bunch of grandmas who just want to sell you some scallions

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(Karl Marx voice) I see a need for a word that can signify the expansion of value/profit logics beyond the narrow boundaries of the traditional town market, and into a fundamental organising principle of production and consumption. In recognition of the vastly increased scale of this phenomenon, I propose to call it\u2026 the super-market

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