The Social Life of Things by Arjun Appadurai

The Social Life of Things by Arjun Appadurai

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Summary

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.

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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.
Appadurai, Arjun: - Arjun Appadurai is the Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University and a senior fellow of the Institute for Public Knowledge. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is the author of editor of numerous books, including The Social Life of Things, Modernity at Large, Fear of Small Numbers, and The Future as Cultural Fact.
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