Description
Book SynopsisThe meaning of things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things. In the model of 'personhood' that the authors develop, goal-directed action and the cultivation of meaning through signs assume central importance. They then relate theoretical issues to the results of their survey. An important finding is the distinction between objects valued for action and those valued for contemplation. The authors compare families who have warm emotional attachments to their homes with those in which a common
Table of ContentsPreface; Part I: 1. People and things; 2. What things are for; Part II: 3. The most cherished objects in the home; 4. Object relations and the development of the self; 5. The home as symbolic environment; 6. Characteristics of happy homes; Part III: 7. The transactions between persons and things; 8. Signs of family life; 9. Meaning and survival; Appendixes; Name index; Subject index.
