Doux commerce

[1] Engaging in trade has been described as "civilizing" people, which has been related to virtues such as being "reasonable and prudent; less given to political and, especially, religious enthusiasm; more reliable, honest, thrifty, and industrious".

Writings of Jacques Savary, a 17th-century French merchant, have been suggested as one possible origin[8] but similar use has been traced earlier, for example to a Renaissance-era 16th century work by Michel de Montaigne.

[15][16][17] In modern scholarship, the term has been analyzed by the German economist Albert Hirschman in his 1977 work The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments For Capitalism Before Its Triumph.

[9][8][18][19] At the same time, even Montesquieu and other proponents of trade from the Enlightenment era have cautioned that some social effects of commerce may be negative, for example commodification, conspicuous consumption, or erosion of interest in non-commercial affairs.

Mark Movsesian noted that "as Hirschman once suggested, the doux commerce thesis is right and wrong at the same time: the market both promotes and corrupts good morals.