The Social Life of Things by Arjun Appadurai
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 historians of art.Arjun Appadurai is a senior fellow at the Center for Public Knowledge and the Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. He is an author and editor of various publications, including The Social Life of Things, Modernism at Large, Fear of Little Numbers, and The Future as Cultural Reality. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780521357265 |
| ISBN 10 | 0521357268 |
| Title | The Social Life of Things |
| Author | Arjun Appadurai |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 1988-01-29 |
| Number of pages | 339 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |