In an exchange that takes place under such circumstances, when the feelings of loss and gain at least balance each other (for otherwise no actor who made any comparisons at all would consummate the exchange) yet when these same feelings of value are discrepant when measured by those general standards, one speaks of a divergence between value and price. This occurs most conspicuously under two conditions, which almost always go together: (1) when a single value-quality is counted as the economic value and two objects consequently are adjudged equal in value only insofar as the same quantum of that fundamental value is present in them, and (2) when a certain proportion between two values is expected not only in an objective sense but also as a moral imperative.

DEFINE: Simmel defines value-price divergence as emerging when a single value-quality is quantified while a moral ratio is also expected.

DEFINE: Simmel defines 'divergence between value and price' as occurring when exchange feels balanced to actors but diverges from general standard measures, under two co-occurring conditions.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 257