The Material Life of Human Beings: Artifacts, Behavior and Communication

ISBN-13: 9780415200332 / Angielski / Miękka / 1999 / 176 str.

Michael Brian Schiffer

Opis

In this work, the anthropological theorist, Michael Brian Schiffer, presents a challenge to the social sciences. Through a broad range of examples, he demonstrates how theories of behaviour and communication have too often ignored the fundamental importance of objects in human life. In this work the author builds upon the premise that the most important feature of human life is not symbolic language but the incessant and diverse transactions which take place between people and myriad artefacts. The author shows that artefacts are involved in all modes of human communication - be they visual, auditory or tactile. By folding elements of postmodernist thought into a scientific framework, he creates concepts and models for understanding and analyzing communication and behaviour. Challenging established theories within the social sciences, Michael Brian Schiffer offers a reassessment of the centrality of materiality to everyday life.

Spis treści

Preface, Acknowledgments, 1 Introduction, 2 What is human behavior?, 3 Artifacts and “interpersonal” communication, 4 Some first principles, 5 A general theory of communication, 6 Basic communication processes, 7 Explaining performance: a general model of receiver response, Glossary, Notes, References, Index

O autorze

Michael Brian Schiffer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. He is well known for his work in the fields of modern material culture, archaeological theory and experimental archaeology and has published a number of books on these subjects, including The Portable Radio in American Life (1991), Behavioral Archaeology: First Principles (1995) and Taking Charge: The Electric Automobile in America (1994).Stephen J. Lee is Head of History at Bromsgrove School. His many publications include Aspects of European History (in two volumes), Peter the Great and The European Dictatorships, 1918-1945