# Their Master — The Wealth of Nations character guide

> Their Master in The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** their master, himself

**First appearance:** 0011-viii-of-the-wages-of-labour

## Snapshot

The singular employer whose authority over a worker's time and subsistence makes him the immediate horizon of that worker's economic life.

## Who they are

Where 'masters' are a class, 'their master' is the particular man a labourer answers to — the one who pays, directs, and can dismiss. Smith uses this figure to show how personal dependence and market forces intertwine in everyday employment. The relationship matters because it makes abstract questions of wages and authority concrete: someone specific holds the purse.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/their_master
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters