From Civic Institution to Community Place: The Meaning of the Public Market in Modern America

Abstract

This paper examines the discursive transformation of the historic American public market from that of a municipally-regulated institution intended to ensure equitable food distribution to citizens to “a public place” that emphasizes community identity and sociability. Using a semiotic analysis of interviews with 31 market managers of 30 historic and contemporary American public markets, data from historic documents, contemporary websites, and multiple site visits, we compare the social construction of the contemporary public market to farmers markets, supermarkets, and the early twentieth-century public market. We consider the ramifications for public market managers, as well as areas for further research.