Regulation and the retailing community

This paper discusses the process of establishing the Sunday holiday in Greek retailing, with particular emphasis on the strategies developed by political actors and, especially, by the social subjects involved in the conflicts over this issue. More specifically, the paper addresses three key issues: firstly, the failure of the retailing community to regulate itself as competition in the capitalist market proved to be a condition which the initiatives of civil society could not overcome. In the context of rising statism, a consensus was thereby formed about the need for state intervention. Secondly, despite their initial consent, the majority of shopkeepers developed a hostile attitude towards state intervention which they saw as restricting their autonomy to run their businesses as they wished and which was perceived as triggering labour unrest. Thirdly, the responses from both the smaller and larger retailers were varied among some trades, as owners of medium and large sized shops found that the restriction of retail working hours could potentially lead to the loss of their smaller competitors’ main comparative advantage over them. As a result, they opted for an alliance with the labour movement over the creation of the Sunday holiday.

Alliance · Autonomy · Business · Competition (biology) · Competitor analysis · Context (archaeology) · Economics · Intervention (counseling) · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Statism · Unrest · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law · Marketing

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