The commodification of friendship: the specificity of functioning of the market friends in Russia

This article is devoted to the concept of "friends market". Friendship today is not only a sacred good that is carefully protected by society, but also an object of market exchange. Thus, the concepts of friend and friendship face social resistance to the process of commodification, which is reflected in the services "friend for an hour", "friend for a time". However, the concept of "friendship" in terms of market exchange takes on a different meaning: the market of friends performs functions that are tightly fixed in the social orders of other markets , so despite the social resistance, the market for selling friendship exists. This article attempts to describe how this market is connected with friendship, how exactly the process of commodification of the concept of "friend" occurs, and what is the subject of purchase and sale in the friends market.