| Description |
1 online resource (273 pages) |
| Contents |
Cover; Half Title; Dedication; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Preface; Part I: Theoretical Approaches to Material Culture; Chapter 1: Making Sense of Material Culture; Defining Material Culture; The Blue Carbuncle as a Model for the Study of Material Culture; On the Nature of Theory; Nietzsche and Perspectivism; The Rashomon Problem; Chapter 2: A Freudian Psychoanalytic Approach; Artifacts and the Unconscious: Freud's Topographic Hypothesis; Id, Ego and Superego: Freud's Structural Hypothesis; Symbolic Aspects of Material Culture; Sexual Development and Material Culture |
|
ConclusionsChapter 3: Semiotic Approaches to Material Culture; Saussure on Signs; Problems with Interpreting Signs; Peirce on Signs; Roland Barthes on the Semiotics of Objects; On the Veracity of Signs; Denotation and Connotation; Conclusions; Chapter 4: Sociological Analysis of Material Culture; Sociological Theory; Functionalism; Taste Cultures; Uses and Gratifications Provided by Artifacts; Race, Ethnicity, and Gender; Status; Role; Jean Baudrillard on The System of Objects; Conclusions; Chapter 5: Economic Theory, Marxism, and Material Culture |
|
Needs Versus Desires: Traveling Light and Arriving HeavyMarxist Theory and Alienation; Class Conflict; The Role of Advertising; Thorsten Veblen and Conspicuous Consumption; Max Weber and Calvinist-Protestant Thought; Georg Simmel on Fashion; Walter Benjamin and the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; Authenticity and Postmodern Thought; John Berger on Objects and Advertising; Conclusions; Chapter 6: Cultural Theory and Material Culture; Culture; Clotaire Rapaille and Culture Codes; Mary Douglas and Grid-Group Theory; Myth and Material Culture |
|
The Myth Model and Material CultureMark Gottdiener on Cultural Studies; Conclusions; Chapter 7: Archaeological Theory and Material Culture; The Cultural History and Anthropological Archaeology Approaches; Processual Theory; Post-Processual Theory; Archaeology's Contribution to Material Culture Theory; Conclusions; Part II: Applications; Chapter 8: Exchange; Chapter 9: Style; Chapter 10: Technology; Chapter 11: Globalization; Chapter 12: Identity; Chapter 13: Transformations; Chapter 14: Sociability; Chapter 15: Shape; Chapter 16: Diffusion; Chapter 17: Narratives; Chapter 18: Nationalism |
|
Part III: Material Culture GamesThe Artifacts Inventory Game; The Time Capsule Game; Disciplinary Perspectives on Objects; The Grid-Group Theory and Objects Game; The Objects and Personal Identity Game; The Signifying Objects Game; Disciplinary Writing Exercise; The Analyzing Artifact Advertisements Game; The Id/Ego/Superego Objects Game; The Functions of Objects Game; The Myth Model Game; References; Index; About the Author |
| Summary |
"Arthur Asa Berger, author of an array of texts in communication, popular culture, and social theory, is back with the second edition of his popular, user-friendly guide for students who want to understand the social meanings of objects. In this broadly interdisciplinary text, Berger takes the reader through half a dozen theoretical models that are commonly used to analyze objects. He then describes and analyzes eleven objects, many of them new to this edition-including smartphones, Facebook, hair dye, and the American flag-showing how they demonstrate concepts like globalization, identity, and nationalism. The book includes a series of exercises that allow students to analyse objects in their own environment. Brief and inexpensive, this introductory guide will be used in courses ranging from anthropology to art history, pop culture to psychology"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-261) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Material culture.
|
|
Material culture -- Philosophy
|
|
Culture -- Semiotic models.
|
|
material culture (discipline)
|
|
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
|
|
Culture -- Semiotic models.
|
|
Material culture.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9781315415840 |
|
1315415844 |
|
