28 lines
820 B
Markdown
28 lines
820 B
Markdown
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-19 source=book-3-chapter-04 -->
|
|
|
|
# Retainers and Dependents System
|
|
|
|
## Definition
|
|
|
|
The pre-commercial social structure where great landowners maintained large
|
|
numbers of followers and dependents who received subsistence directly from the
|
|
landowner's bounty, creating a system of obligation and power based on the
|
|
landowner's ability to consume surplus agricultural produce locally.
|
|
|
|
## Source Chapter
|
|
|
|
Book III, Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
## Context
|
|
|
|
Smith describes this as the feudal system where landowners had nothing to
|
|
exchange their surplus produce for, so they consumed it through maintaining
|
|
retainers, creating a power structure based on direct subsistence provision
|
|
rather than market exchange.
|
|
|
|
## Economic Domain
|
|
|
|
Distribution
|
|
|
|
---
|