Date post: | 15-Nov-2014 |
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Theories
Of
Things
Do we really need …
… everything we buy?
Two theories of things …
1
Things as SIGNS
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899
Updating the theory for the modern world … with alternative status hierarchies
Wealthy
Updating the theory … with alternative status hierarchies
Wealthy
Stylish
Updating the theory … with alternative status hierarchies
Wealthy
Stylish
Educated
Updating the theory … with alternative status hierarchies
Wealthy
Stylish
Educated
Working Class
Middle Class
Intellectual
Artistic
RebelliousAlternative
Which is more important? …
‘Sign Value’ or ‘Use Value’?Roland Barthes, ‘Myth Today’ in Mythologies (1957)
‘Sign value’ or ‘Use value’?
See especially: Chapter 4 & Chapter 7
Two theories of things …
2
Things as TOOLSfor personal growth
See especially: Chapter 2
Ideas derive from GWF Hegel in 19th century …
We create things with purpose …
The material world we create is the sum total of human desires and aspirations …
… turned into material form
Roads … Tables and Chairs … Personal Belongings too …
Developing material culture … leads to human growth
Over time, we become very different humans
People make things … and THINGS MAKE PEOPLE
People make things … and THINGS MAKE PEOPLE
Cannot develop new skills without the right tools and built environment
So if things are so great …
… why doesn’t it always feel that way?
Contradictions … Alienation … Resolution … Dialectical theory
Hegel’s answer?
A semiotic theory of things …
And a dialectical theory of things …