Prostorová a sociální dimenze arabského tržiště
Spatial and social dimension of the Arab marketplace

Summary/Abstract: Bazaar [bāzār] is a Persian word for marketplace. Like the Arabic term souk ق [súq], bazaar is both the concrete trading place, where many people meet and interact but like the English word market is also understood as a more abstract notion of buying and selling in the sense of demand and supply. Bazaar can refer to a single shopping unit or a street in the frame of the marketplace or outside its boundaries or to the whole business complex. The main aim of this paper is to show the specifics of the bazaar in the frame of the Middle Eastern society and culture. The souk is seen as one of the quintessential oriental spaces. The fundamental attribute of the bazaar is the scarcity and mal-distribution of information. Bargaining and clientelization are the most peculiar market institutions but the most effective communicative mechanisms for coordinating information among market participants. The bazaar itself, with its multifunctional character, has many uses and represents a rich economic base: a mix of trade, services, industries, tourism, and even accommodation. The traditional bazaar or souk is an economic institution, a communication network and a way of life, a general mode of commercial activity reaching into many aspects of the Arab society and Syrian in particular. Any bazaar is a major public forum, attracting diverse people who exchange information, rumour, family affairs, and opinions about economic conditions and political disputes.

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