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�…

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�…

Material culture is the study of material products of human manufacturing processes, or" the
history of things." Since material culture studies re-emerged in the late 1960s, this field of�…

For the economist, commodities simply are. That is, certain things and rights to things are
produced, exist, and can be seen to circulate through the economic system as they are�…

Three hundred years ago people made most of what they used, or got it in trade from their
neighbours. Now, no one seems to make anything, and we buy what we need from shops�…

" This book compiles and integrates highly innovative work aimed at bridging the fields of
anthropology and consumer behavior."—Journal of Consumer Affairs"... fascinating�…

Growing up in most contemporary Western contexts, the average individual will be
confronted not only with a cornucopia of commodities and commercialized services but also�…

DM: When I originally moved from my training in archaeology to that section of anthropology
called material culture, I was fascinated by what seemed a paradox. Anthropologists were�…

Exploring materialism and social relationships in modern culture Material Culture and Mass
Consumption offers an in-depth exploration of objects, objectification, ideology, and�…

The recent publication of Arjun Appadurai's edited collection The Social Life of Things:
Commodities in Cultural Perspective (1986) is a milestone in the de-velopment of a new�…