When Culture Goes to Market encompasses an ethnographic study of Washington DCs Eastern Market a popular weekend produce and flea market and the people who constitute it vendors market supervisors and customers. By analyzing how this marketplace in contrast to theoretical notions of The Market functions as a social institution embedded in a particular time place and series of social relationships Shepherd examines how urban public space is produced reproduced and shaped by larger economic and social processes. In doing so he explores the practical limits to formalized bureaucratic planning in the success of this street market. Crossing disciplinary boundaries When Culture Goes to Market is an excellent practical case study for courses in urban planning microeconomics cultural studies urban and economic anthropology and sociology.