Consumption and Commodities

TitleConsumption and Commodities
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1995
AuthorsMiller, D.
JournalAnnual Review of Anthropology
Volume24
Pagination141-161
AbstractThis review contends that the study of consumption and commodities representsa major transformation in the discipline of anthropology. It documentsthis metamorphosis by examining how the debate on gifts and commoditiestranscended its original formulation as good versus evil. It then examines therecent growth and maturity of material culture studies and nascent developmentsthat may give rise to a political economy of consumption. It notes,however, that there is still a paucity of ethnographic research specificallydevoted to these topics. The review concludes by arguing that the study ofconsumption and commodities is particularly close to traditions established inthe study of kinship and it may come to replace kinship as the core of anthropology,even though the two topics often have been viewed as antithetical.