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The World of Goods
Mary Douglas,Baron Isherwood +1 more
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TLDR
The World of Goods as mentioned in this paper is a classic of economic anthropology whose insights remain compelling and urgent, arguing that poverty is caused as much by the erosion of local communities and networks as it is by lack of possessions and contrast small-scale with large-scale consumption in the household.Abstract:
It is well-understood that the consumption of goods plays an important, symbolic role in the way human beings communicate, create identity, and establish relationships. What is less well-known is that the pattern of their flow shapes society in fundamental ways. In this book the renowned anthropologist Mary Douglas and economist Baron Isherwood overturn arguments about consumption that rely on received economic and psychological explanations. They ask new questions about why people save, why they spend, what they buy, and why they sometimes-but not always-make fine distinctions about quality.
Instead of regarding consumption as a private means of satisfying one’s preferences, they show how goods are a vital information system, used by human beings to fulfill their intentions towards one another. They also consider the implications of the social role of goods for a new vision for social policy, arguing that poverty is caused as much by the erosion of local communities and networks as it is by lack of possessions, and contrast small-scale with large-scale consumption in the household.
A radical rethinking of consumerism, inequality and social capital, The World of Goods is a classic of economic anthropology whose insights remain compelling and urgent.
This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by Richard Wilk.
"Forget that commodities are good for eating, clothing, and shelter; forget their usefulness and try instead the idea that commodities are good for thinking." – Mary Douglas and Baron Isherwoodread more
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The Quest for Distinction: A Reappraisal of the Rural Labor Process in Kheda District (Gujarat), India*
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how the rural labor process is constitutive of social identity, particularly status, by harnessing empirical evidence from Kheda District, Gujarat, and other parts of India.
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Incorporating social context and co-evolution in an innovation diffusion model—with an application to cleaner vehicles
TL;DR: In this article, an agent-based analysis of innovation diffusion is presented for car engine technology with support of a simulation model, where actor behavior is modeled explicitly on the basis of actor frames and the consequent appraisal of technology options by potential adopters and by suppliers.
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CONSTRUCTED AND RECONSTRUCTED DISCOURSE Inscription and Talk in the History of Literacy
TL;DR: In this paper, four models of literacy are identified: the traditional received skills model, the grand theory model, semiotic model, functional model, and semiotic marker model, where the received model is optimistic about the long-term social and political effects of literacy.
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Harmonization Processes and Relational Meanings in Constructing Asian Weddings
TL;DR: Using multimethod data on wedding consumption, the authors highlights the pursuit of harmonization as a dynamic and never-ending process that can happen within individuals, between human beings, and among different entities in the world.
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Networks of practices in critical consumption
Elisa Bellotti,Emanuela Mora +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed some theoretical and methodological advancements in the study of critical consumption within the framework of the theory of practices, and applied an innovative anaesthetic approach to the critical consumption problem.