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https://www.academia.edu/14994402/The_Social_Life_of_Things
The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective Paperback – 3 March 1988
by Arjun Appadurai (Editor)
4.7 out of 5 stars 30 ratings
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The meaning that people attribute to things necessarily derives from human transactions and motivations, particularly from how those things are used and circulated. The contributors to this volume examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past. Focusing on culturally defined aspects of exchange and socially regulated processes of circulation, the essays illuminate the ways in which people find value in things and things give value to social relations. By looking at things as if they lead social lives, the authors provide a new way to understand how value is externalized and sought after. Containing contributions from American and British social anthropologists and historians, the volume bridges the disciplines of social history, cultural anthropology, and economics, and marks a major step in our understanding of the cultural basis of economic life and the sociology of culture. It will appeal to anthropologists, social historians, economists, archaeologists, and
Book Description
The contributors to this volume examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past.
Book Description
The contributors to this volume examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past. Focusing on culturally defined aspects of exchange and socially regulated processes of circulation, the essays illuminate the ways in which people find value in things and things give value to social relations.
Publisher : Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (3 March 1988)
Language : English
Paperback : 348 pages
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Top reviews
The Professor
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but a bit random, too.Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 21 February 2018
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In general, this is a good and worthy book, if a bit on the older side of current research into commodity culture. But as a foundational reference point, it should probably be on the reading list of anyone serious about the history of commodities and social history. The only fault I really find is that the supporting essays are quite random in nature. There is an effort to group the essays into five themes, and the introductory essay (one of the cornerstones of the book) tries to define those themes, but with only two essays to work from, and often drawing on wide-ranging areas and times, it's hard to get more than a sampler of ideas from here, and thus harder to really attempt to generalise methods that could apply to other cultures. Still - a worthwhile text.
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