Third-party advantage grows as the personal element recedes from exchange

Evidence

These situations of tertius gaudens may be arranged along a continuum. At the one end, perhaps, there is the above-mentioned case of the woman between two suitors. Here the decision depends on the two men’s natures, rather than on any of their activities. The chooser, therefore, usually makes no conditions and thus does not fully exploit the situation. At the other end, there is the situation which gives the tertius gaudens his extreme advantage. It is found in modern market economy with its complete exclusion of the personal element: here the advantage of the chooser reaches a point where the parties even relieve him of the maximum intensification of his own bargaining condition. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 4464

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the tertius gaudens continuum: from personal/relational choice (suitors) to impersonal market arbitration where the third’s advantage is maximal.
• XREF: connects to: Equivalence judgments in exchange require an external third party — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 490