SOC 308T Property: A Social Analysis of Material Goods (Not offered 1998-99)

The human race has a love-hate relationship with material possessions. While the Melanesian cargo-cults make material goods the center of religious practice, Hinduism suggests the renunciation of possessions as a path to God. At the same time as the "free" world was encouraging its citizens to buy more and own more, the communist world was asking its citizens to relinquish their property for the greater benefit of all. People in some countries comb garbage dumps for every scrap of recyclable material; yet in this country each person generates 24 tons of garbage per year. In this course, we will examine the relationship between people and their "things," and the consequences of that relationship for the social order. Among other topics we will discuss the historical emergence of the legal and economic concept of newer forms of private property; the differentiation of property in land, money, and goods such as ideas and information; the role of property in the physical organization of encampments, villages, and cities; the impact of possessions on the development of class systems; property as a basis for political power; and the symbolic use of material goods by religious orders, artists, and collectors. Format: tutorial. No prerequisites.

BACON