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The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective

by Arjun Appadurai

The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The contributors to this volume examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past. Bridging the disciplines of social history, cultural anthropology, and economics, the volume marks a major step in our understanding of the cultural basis of economic life and the sociology of culture.

Synopsis:

The meaning that people attribute to objects necessarily derives from human transactions and motivations. The contributors to this volume examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past.
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Table of Contents

Foreword Nancy Farriss; Preface; Part I. Toward an anthropology of things: 1. Introduction: commodities and the politics of value Arjun Appadurai; 2. The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process Igor Kopytoff; Part II. Exchange, Consumption, and Display: 3. Two kinds of value in the Eastern Solomon Islands William H. Davenport; 4. Newcomers to the world of goods: consumption among the Muria Gonds Alfred Gell; Part III. Prestige, Commemoration, and Value: 5. Varna and the emergence of wealth in prehistoric Europe Colin Renfrew; 6. Sacred commodities: the circulation of medieval relics Patrick Geary; Part IV. Production Regimes and the Sociology of Demand: 7. Weavers and dealers: the authenticity of an oriental carpet Brian Spooner; 8. Qat: changes in the production and consumption of a quasilegal commodity in northeast Africa Lee V. Cassanelli; Part V. Historical Transformations and Commodity Codes: 9. The structure of a cultural crisis: thinking about cloth in France before and after the Revolution William M. Reddy; 10. The origins of swadeshi (home industry): cloth and Indian society, 1700 — 1930 C. A. Bayly; Index.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780521357265
Subtitle:
Commodities in Cultural Perspective
Editor:
Appadurai, Arjun
Editor:
Appadurai, Arjun
Author:
Appadurai, Arjun
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Location:
Cambridge England
Subject:
General
Subject:
Social Services & Welfare
Subject:
Anthropology - Cultural
Subject:
Anthropology
Subject:
Commerce
Subject:
Commodities
Subject:
Commodity exchanges
Subject:
Economic anthropology
Subject:
Anthropology - General
Subject:
Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare
Subject:
Commerce - Social aspects - Addresses, essays
Subject:
Commerce - Social aspects - Addresses, essays, lectures
Subject:
Economic anthropology - Addresses, essays, lectures
Subject:
Commerce - History - Addresses, essays, lectures
Edition Number:
1
Edition Description:
Hardback
Series Volume:
02
Publication Date:
January 1988
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
Professional and scholarly
Language:
English
Pages:
352
Dimensions:
8.98x6.02x.92 in. 1.21 lbs.
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