Full text: The social psychology of material possessions

viii 
Contents 
The first treasured possession 
Language acquisition and possessive behaviour 
Possession disputes and early self-definition 
Instruments of control and power 
Acquisition of specific possession-related concepts 
Political and economic socialization 
Summary 
Instrumental and symbolic extensions of the adult self 
Furby’s control model 
Consumer products as expressions of personality 
The instrumental-symbolic dichotomy 
Conclusion 
Notes 
A social constructionist perspective: 
Possessions as material symbols of identity 
The social constructionist perspective 
The concept of identity 
Abandoning ‘absolute truth’ does not mean 
‘anything goes’ 
A symbolic interactionist view of material identity 
Material objects and early self-awareness 
The symbolic dimension of material objects 
Socially shared meaning systems 
Overstretching the language metaphor 
The possessions—identity link 
A symbolic-communicational model of 
and identity 
Concluding comments 
Notes 
Possessions as symbolic expressions of identity 
Status symbols 
Gift-giving: accepting and imposing identities 
Consumer goods revisited 
Symbolic self-completion 
Is enough ever enough? 
Pets as self-extensions 
Life in institutions 
Personal storehouses of meaning: life and beyond 
The home as identity shell 
Favourite possessions as markers of age, sex and culture 
Conclusion 
Notes 
POSSESSIONS 
48 
49 
50 
1 
54 
55 
6 
7 
8 
60 
61 
62 
64 
65 
67 
73 
74 
75 
77 
79 
81 
R3 
88 
92 
04 
95 
96 
97 
98 
101 
103 
107 
108 
109 
112 
115 
119 
121
	        
Waiting...

Note to user

Dear user,

In response to current developments in the web technology used by the Goobi viewer, the software no longer supports your browser.

Please use one of the following browsers to display this page correctly.

Thank you.