The Meaning of Things

This 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.

Preface; 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.