000			02049nam a2200217Ia 4500
005			20250123164851.0
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020			_a9780367679828 _qpbk
041			_aeng
082			_a306.3 _bDOU
100			_aDouglas, Mary
245		4	_aMary Douglas and Baron Isherwood : The World Of Goods _c
250			_a1st ed.
260			_bRoutledge _c2021 _aLondon
300			_axl,189 p. _c; 21 cm
504			_aindex
520			_aIt 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.
650			_aAnthropology
700			_aIsherwood, Baron C.
942			_cREF
999			_c566232 _d566232