The Downside of transparency: europeanization, standardization and disobedient markets at the margins of Europe
ENBased on a case study that follows the introduction process of cash registers in Lithuanian open air markets, this paper investigates the local forms and effects of European policies of transparency and standardization. Building on anthropological research on transparency, standardization and policies, the introduction of cash registers is studied as an implementation of European governmentality leading to new forms of personhood and social exclusion. The paper shows how Europeanization is negotiated in the specific context of open-air markets that traditionally are perceived as being unruly spaces. It highlights the gap between the apparently transparent and clear vision of Europeanization through standardization and its daily messiness and disorder.
