The Sociology Book

246

T H I N G S M A K E U S

J U S T A S M U C H A S

W E M A K E T H I N G S

DANIEL MILLER (1954– )

S

ociologists, drawing on

the pioneering work of

Thorstein Veblen in the

late 19th century, have traditionally

conceived of consumer goods

symbolically, as objects people

acquire to communicate specific

meanings to one another—for

example, the type of lifestyle

they lead and the amount of

social status they possess.

However, British sociologist

Daniel Miller in his book Stuff,

published in 2010, points out

that the myriad ways in which

consumer goods inform personal

identity, selfhood, and interactions

with others have been understood

primarily in negative terms.

Consumerism is, he says,

considered by the majority of

commentators to be wasteful

and bad; desiring consumer

goods is thought to be superficial

and morally reprehensible; and

consumerism is alienating and

socially divisive—it separates

the “haves” from the “have-nots”

and can lead to serious social

problems, including theft.

Miller puts a very different

slant on things by emphasizing

the various positive ways in which

material artifacts contribute to

Modern societies are

materialistic and

consumerist.

Things make us

just as much as

we make things.

Consumerism is often

perceived negatively—as a

signifier of wastefulness and

superficiality, for example.

But material objects

and possessions can help

shape and strengthen

people’s self-identity

and their interactions and

relationships with others.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Material culture

KEY DATES

1807 In Phenomenology of

Spirit, German philosopher

Georg Hegel outlines his

theory of “objectification,”

which describes how people

transform their labor into

material objects (a house,

for example, is the result of

considerable collective labor).

1867 Karl Marx introduces his

ideas about the fetishization

of commodities in Das Kapital.

1972 French sociologist Pierre

Bourdieu publishes Outline of

A Theory of Practice, which

examines the life and material

culture of the Kabyle Berber

people in Algeria.

2004 Finnish sociologist

Kaj Ilmonen examines how

people externalize a part of

themselves in the material

objects they own.