# Those Masters — The Wealth of Nations character guide

> Those Masters in The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Those masters, Their, those masters, their

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

## Snapshot

The employers as a collective, the side of the wage bargain that Smith admits almost always holds the advantage over the hands they hire.

## Who they are

They appear as a class rather than as individuals, coordinating quietly while their workers scatter and struggle to combine. Smith notes their superior staying power, their ability to hold out longer in any dispute, and the laws that tilt the field further in their favor. Their presence in the early chapters sets up the book's recurring worry: that markets may be free in theory but rarely in practice.

## Links

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