Market Around Us - Revision Notes
CBSE Class 07 Social Science
Revision Notes
Political Science Chapter 08
Markets Around Us
A market is where buyers and sellers are involved in the sale and purchase of goods. It establishes a link between the producer and the consumer and helps them connect to each other. It allows the sellers to sell their produce and the buyers to choose from the various products.
Weekly Market:
(i) A weekly market is so-called because it is held on a specific day of the week.
(ii) Weekly markets do not have permanent shops. Traders set up shops for the day
and then close them up in the evening. Then they may set up at a different place the next day.
(iii) There are thousands of such markets in India.
(iv) People come to the markets for their everyday requirements.
(v) Many things are available in a weekly market at cheaper rates. This is because when shops are in permanent buildings, they incur a lot of expenditure – they have to pay rent, electricity, fees to the government. They also have to pay wages to their workers.
(vi) Weekly markets even have a large number of shops selling the same goods which means there is a competition among them.
(vii) One advantage of weekly markets is that most of the things of need are available at one place.
Shops in the Neighbourhood:
(i) There are many shops that sell goods and services in our neighbourhood.
(ii) We may buy milk from the dairy, grocery from the departmental stores, etc.
(iii) These shops are useful as they are near our home and we can go there on any day of the week.
(iv) Usually, the buyer and seller know each other and these shops also provide goods on credit.
Shopping Complexes:
(i) There are other markets in the urban area which have many shops at one place. These are called shopping complexes.
(ii) In many urban areas, we also have multi-storeyed air-conditioned buildings with shops on different floors as malls.
(iii) In these urban markets, you get both branded and non-branded goods. Branded goods are expensive, often promoted by advertising and claims of better quality. The companies producing these products sell them through shops in large urban markets and, at times, through special showrooms.
Chain of Markets:
(i) The people in between the producer and the final consumer are traders.
(ii) The person who produces goods in the producer. The person who buys goods from him is the wholesaler. The wholesaler gives it to the traders who give it to the consumers.
(iii) This trader providing to the consumer is known as the retailer. This could be a trader in a weekly market, a hawker in the neighbourhood or a shop in a shopping complex.
(iv) The retailer could be a trader in a weekly market, a hawker, neighbourhood shop owner in the shopping complex, etc.
Markets Everywhere:
(i) All markets work in a space in a particular manner and time.
(ii) Buying and selling takes place in different ways, not necessary through shops in the market.
(iii) There are even markets we may not be aware of. This is because a large number of goods that we don’t use directly are also bought and sold. For example, a car factory purchases engine, parts, gears, petrol tanks, axles, wheels, etc. from various other factories. We, however, do not get to know about either the manufacturers or the sellers involved in it.
Markets and Equality:
(i) Whether we can be buyers or sellers in these different markets depends among other things, on the money that we have.
(ii) When things are sold, it encourages production and new opportunities are created for people to earn.
