Theories

Of

Things

Do we really need …

… everything we buy?

Two theories of things …

1

Things as SIGNS

Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899

Updating the theory for the modern world … with alternative status hierarchies

Wealthy

Updating the theory … with alternative status hierarchies

Wealthy

Stylish

Updating the theory … with alternative status hierarchies

Wealthy

Stylish

Educated

Updating the theory … with alternative status hierarchies

Wealthy

Stylish

Educated

Working Class

Middle Class

Intellectual

Artistic

RebelliousAlternative

Which is more important? …

‘Sign Value’ or ‘Use Value’?Roland Barthes, ‘Myth Today’ in Mythologies (1957)

‘Sign value’ or ‘Use value’?

See especially: Chapter 4 & Chapter 7

Two theories of things …

2

Things as TOOLSfor personal growth

See especially: Chapter 2

Ideas derive from GWF Hegel in 19th century …

We create things with purpose …

The material world we create is the sum total of human desires and aspirations …

… turned into material form

Roads … Tables and Chairs … Personal Belongings too …

Developing material culture … leads to human growth

Over time, we become very different humans

People make things … and THINGS MAKE PEOPLE

People make things … and THINGS MAKE PEOPLE

Cannot develop new skills without the right tools and built environment

So if things are so great …

… why doesn’t it always feel that way?

Contradictions … Alienation … Resolution … Dialectical theory

Hegel’s answer?

A semiotic theory of things …

And a dialectical theory of things …