The comfort of things / Daniel Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Daniel, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Personal belongings--England--London--Psychological aspects.

Personal belongings.

Psychological aspects.

London (England)--Social conditions.

London (England).

England--London.

Physical Description:

viii, 302 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity, 2008.

Summary:

What do we know about ordinary people in our towns and cities, about what really matters to them and how they organize their lives today? This book visits an ordinary street and looks into thirty households. It reveals the aspirations and frustrations, the tragedies and accomplishments that are played out behind the doors. It focuses on the things that matter to these people, which quite often turn out to be material things - their house, the dog, their music, the Christmas decorations. These are the means by which they express who they have become, and relationships to objects turn out to be central to their relationships with other people - children, lovers, brothers and friends.

If this is a typical street in a modern city like London, then what kind of society is this? It's not a community, nor a neighbourhood, nor is it a collection of isolated individuals. It isn't dominated by the family. We assume that social life is corrupted by materialism, made superficial and individualistic by a surfeit of consumer goods, but this is misleading. If the street isn't any of these things, then what is it?

This brilliant and revealing portrayal of a street in modern London, written by one of our most prominent anthropologists, shows how much is to be gained when we stop lamenting what we think we used to be and focus instead on what we are now becoming. It reveals the forms by which ordinary people make sense of their lives, and the ways in which objects become our companions in the daily struggle to make life meaningful.

Contents:

Portrait 1 Empty 8

Portrait 2 Full 18

Portrait 3 A Porous Vessel 32

Portrait 4 Starry Green Plastic Ducks 46

Portrait 5 Learning Love 57

Portrait 6 The Aboriginal Laptop 67

Portrait 7 Home and Homeland 73

Portrait 8 Tattoo 83

Portrait 9 Haunted 90

Portrait 10 Talk to the Dog 100

Portrait 11 Tales from the Publicans 108

Portrait 12 Making a Living 117

Portrait 13 McDonald's Truly Happy Meals 125

Portrait 14 The Exhibitionist 133

Portrait 15 Re-Birth 143

Portrait 16 Strength of Character 153

Portrait 17 Heroin 162

Portrait 18 Shi 171

Portrait 19 Brazil 2 England 2 179

Portrait 20 A Thousand Places to See before You Die 186

Portrait 21 Rosebud 193

Portrait 22 The Orientalist 201

Portrait 23 Sepia 207

Portrait 24 An Unscripted Life 217

Portrait 25 Oh Sod It! 227

Portrait 26 Jos ̌and Jos'̌s Wife 234

Portrait 27 Wrestling 241

Portrait 28 The Carpenter 252

Portrait 29 Things That Bright Up the Place 260

Portrait 30 Home Truths 274.

ISBN:

9780745644035

0745644031

9780745644042

074564404X

OCLC:

191245313