The Meaning of Things:

Domestic Symbols and the Self

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Halton

"The Meaning of Things is an unusual and important study...If there is ever to be the social psychology of materialism that Lee Rainwater called for nearly a decade ago, this is likely to be a keystone." Michael Schudson, The American Journal of Sociology

The Meaning of Things explores the meanings of household possessions for three generation families in the Chicago area, and the place of materialism in American culture. Now regarded as a keystone in material culture studies, Halton's first book is based on his dissertation and coauthored with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. First published by Cambridge University Press in 1981, it has been translated into German, Italian, Japanese, and Hungarian.

Translations:

Italian translation. Il significato degli oggetti. Rome: Edizione Kappa, 1986.

German translation. Der Sinn der Dinge. Munich: Psychologie Verlags Union, 1989.

Japanese translation 2007.

Hungarian translation. Targyaink tukreben. 2011.

Hear Halton's harmonica variation of Favorite Things

For information on Halton's other books: From the Axial Age to the Moral Revolution, The Great Brain Suck, Meaning and Modernity , and Bereft of Reason

Click here to return to Eugene Halton's homepage