Auctions: The Social Construction of Value.
基于对多种拍卖类型的参与观察和对数百名拍卖师的访谈，揭示了拍卖中价值并非由供需法则决定，而是由参与者信念、行动及拍卖场上的假设与实践共同建构的社会过程。
Long the preferred method of exchange for antiques and horseflesh, auctions are used today to sell everything from bestselling books to real estate, government bonds to abandoned automobiles. As sociologist Charles Smith reveals, the mechanical law of supply and demand rarely governs the auction process. Rather value is determined by a complex social process combining both the beliefs and actions of the auction participants and the assumptions and practices on the auction floor. Based on years of participation in and observation of different types of auctions and interviews with hundreds of auctioneers, Smith gives us not only a theoretical understanding of the auction process but the sights and sounds as well.