1st Edition
Gifts and Commodities Exchange and Western Capitalism Since 1700
By James G. Carrier
Copyright 1995
260 Pages
by
Routledge
256 Pages
by
Routledge
256 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
Three hundred years ago people made most of what they used, or got it in trade from their neighbours. Now, no one seems to make anything, and we buy what we need from shops. Gifts and Commodities describes the cultural and historical process of these changes and looks at the rise of consumer society in Britain and the United States. It investigates the ways that people think about and relate to... Read more
Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Gifts and Commodities, People and Things; Chapter 3 Changing Production Relations; Chapter 4 Changing Circulation Relations; Chapter 5 Changing Circulation Relations; Chapter 6 The Work of Appropriation; Chapter 7 Presenting Commodities in Catalogues; Chapter 8 The Ideology of the Gift; Chapter 9 Christmas and the Ceremony of the Gift; Chapter 10 Conclusion;
Biography
James G. Carrier
`This book is an ingenious exploration, based on turning an old anthropological theme upside down. ... His writing is always clear, sinewy, and comprehensible, on this as on all the topics he tackles.' - Andrew J Strathern American ethnologist
`...an engaging and invigorating challenge which raises issues that are-or should be-of fundamental concern to business historians and others interested in the history of retailing and shopping' - John Benson, Business History
