The Material Life of Human Beings (Paperback)

In this ground-breaking work, the distinguished anthropological theorist, Michael Schiffer, presents a profound challenge to the social sciences. Through a broad range of examples, he demonstrates how theories of behavior and communication have too often ignored the fundamental importance of objects in human life.

In The Material Life of Human Beings, the author builds upon the premise that the most important feature of human life is not symbolic language but the incessant and diverse transactions that take place between people and myriad artifacts. The author shows that artifacts are involved in al modes of human communication--be they visual, auditory or tactile. By creatively folding elements of postmodernist thought into a scientific framework, he creates new concepts and models for understanding and analyzing communication and behavior. Challenging established theories within the social sciences, the author offers a reassessment of the centrality of materiality to everyday life.

In this ground-breaking work, the distinguished anthropological theorist, Michael Schiffer, presents a profound challenge to the social sciences. Through a broad range of examples, he demonstrates how theories of behavior and communication have too often ignored the fundamental importance of objects in human life.

In The Material Life of Human Beings, the author builds upon the premise that the most important feature of human life is not symbolic language but the incessant and diverse transactions that take place between people and myriad artifacts. The author shows that artifacts are involved in al modes of human communication--be they visual, auditory or tactile. By creatively folding elements of postmodernist thought into a scientific framework, he creates new concepts and models for understanding and analyzing communication and behavior. Challenging established theories within the social sciences, the author offers a reassessment of the centrality of materiality to everyday life.