Description
Taylor & Francis What Objects Mean An Introduction to Material Culture 2014 Edition by Arthur Asa Berger
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. Table of contents :- PrefacePart I: Theoretical Approaches to Material CultureChapter 1: Making Sense of Material CultureChapter 2: A Freudian Psychoanalytic ApproachChapter 3: Semiotic Approaches to Material CultureChapter 4: Sociological Analysis of Material CultureChapter 5: Economic Theory, Marxism, and Material CultureChapter 6: Cultural Theory and Material CultureChapter 7: Archaeological Theory and Material CulturePart II: ApplicationsChapter 8: ExchangeChapter 9: StyleChapter 10: TechnologyChapter 11: GlobalizationChapter 12: IdentityChapter 13: TransformationsChapter 14: SociabilityChapter 15: ShapeChapter 16: DiffusionChapter 17: NarrativesChapter 18: NationalismPart III: Material Culture GamesThe Artifacts Inventory GameThe Time Capsule GameDisciplinary Perspectives on ObjectsThe Grid-Group Theory and Objects GameThe Objects and Personal Identity Game