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