ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the tense relationship between unfettered individualism and market relationships, arguing that successful economic exchanges entail a curbing of self-interest in the form of mutuality just as much as they rely upon each actor's attempt to maximise returns. Building upon two years of fieldwork in a Romanian village, it proposes that the shared world-view of villagers in Sateni comes impressively close to the ideal of a society in which everyone is ultimately responsible for their own life. Sateni is a village in North-East Romania, poor by national standards but rather well-off in comparison with its neighbours. Mihai left Sateni for Greece in his early thirties, after spending his youth as a small-scale trader in cereals and timber between Sateni and mountain villages. The scare quotes of 'contract' remind that although he had thought about formally registering his activity, Mihai's business remained entirely in the informal sector.
