Doing Things with Things
The Design and Use of Everyday Objects
1st Edition
Published on 28. September 2006
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-7546-4656-3 (ISBN)
Description
It has been claimed that the natural sciences have abstracted for themselves a 'material world' set apart from human concerns, and social sciences, in their turn, constructed 'a world of actors devoid of things'. While a subject such as archaeology, by its very nature, takes objects into account, other disciplines, such as psychology, emphasize internal mental structures and other non-material issues. This book brings together a team of contributors from across the social sciences who have been taking 'things' more seriously to examine how people relate to objects. The contributors focus on every day objects and how these objects enter into our activities over the course of time. Using a combination of different theoretical approaches, including actor network theory, ecological psychology, cognitive linguistics and science and technology studies, the book argues against the standard notion of objects and their properties as inert and meaningless and argues for the need to understand the relations between people and objects in terms of process and change.
Reviews / Votes
'There is growing consensus that human beings are inextricably interwoven with the artefacts and cultural practices that jointly constitute the unique medium of human life. This stimulating collection of essays provides a wealth of examples that embody this insight in a wide variety of settings. Costall and Dreier have organized a giant step forward toward the reintegration of the human sciences.' Michael Cole, University of California, USA 'From psychology and linguistics to architecture, archaeology and material culture studies, the orthodoxy that isolated human minds confront a world of inert and meaningless objects is being challenged. This book takes up the challenge, showing how agency and intentionality arise as properties of the very relations that people set up in their lifelong, practical engagement with the things around them. The book is a must for anyone concerned with how things are designed, made and used.' Tim Ingold, University of Aberdeen, UK '...I found this book to be interesting...would provide you with some foundational ideas.' Journal of Occupational Science '...insightful contributions to the growing body of academic work taking things more seriously and rethinking how people relate to objects.' Cultural GeographiesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
630 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7546-4656-3 (9780754646563)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2016
1st Edition
Routledge
€89.32
Shipment within 10-20 days
E-Book
05/2016
Routledge
€77.49
Available for download
E-Book
05/2016
Routledge
€77.99
Available for download
Persons
Alan Costall is Professor of Ecological Psychology at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Ole Dreier is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Content
Introduction, Alan Costall, Ole Dreier; Part I Intentionality and the Functionality of Things; Chapter 1 The Case of the Recalcitrant Prototype, Beth Preston; Chapter 2 Use Plans and Artefact Functions: An Intentionalist Approach to Artefacts and their Use, Pieter E. Vermaas, Wybo Houkes; Part II Things in the World of the Child; Chapter 3 Autism and Object Use: The Mutuality of the Social and Material in Children's Developing Understanding and Use of Everyday Objects, Emma Williams, Linda Kendell-Scott; Chapter 4 Object Use in Pretend Play: Symbolic or Functional?, Agnes Szokolsky; Chapter 5 *The study was supported by Aarhus University, Denmark, the Danish Research Council for the Humanities and by Inge Lehmann's Scholarship of 1983., Kristine Jensen de Lopez; Part III Transformation and Things; Chapter 6 The Cognitive Biographies of Things, David de Leon; Chapter 7 1With apologies to Oliver ., Hysse Birgitte Forchhammer; Chapter 8 1I would like to thank the editors of this volume and several authors, who have been very helpful with comments on this chapter, as well as Jeannette Pols, John Law and Lucy Suchman, who have commented on earlier versions of the chapter., Estrid Sorensen; Part IV Organisation and Things; Chapter 9 Working with Material Things: From Essentialism to Material-Semiotic Analysis of Sociotechnical Practice, Finn Olesen, Randi Markussen; Chapter 10 Words and Things: Discursive and Non-Discursive Ordering in a Networked Organisation, Steven D. Brown, David Middleton; Chapter 11 Learning to Do Things with Things: Apprenticeship in Bakery as Economy and Social Practice, Klaus Nielsen; Chapter 12 Urban Makings and the Formalisation of Informal Settlements, Gustavo Ribeiro;