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‘The Flow of Words and the Flow of Value’: Illegal Behavior, Social Identity and Marketplace Experiences in Turin, Italy

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Lived Experiences of Public Consumption

Part of the book series: Consumption and Public Life ((CUCO))

Abstract

Being insulted, teased or mocked is a normal interactional style in the open-air market of Porta Palazzo in Turin, northwestern Italy. It is a place where one can expect easily to get back home with a bag full of cheap vegetables and a head full of questions about what went on when all the vendors were laughing at you during your last haggle.

So the tumult of the marketplace is largely a tumult of words.

Clifford Geertz (1979: 202).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Milan, USA

    Giovanni Semi

Authors
  1. Giovanni Semi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University, USA

    Daniel Thomas Cook

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© 2008 Giovanni Semi

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Semi, G. (2008). ‘The Flow of Words and the Flow of Value’: Illegal Behavior, Social Identity and Marketplace Experiences in Turin, Italy. In: Cook, D.T. (eds) Lived Experiences of Public Consumption. Consumption and Public Life. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230591264_8

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