Wild Things

Judy Attfield was Senior Lecturer in History and Design at the University of Southampton, UK. A pioneer of the field of material culture studies, she was a member of the editorial board of the journal 'Home Cultures'.

• List of illustrationsPreface to the original editionPreface to the current edition by Claudia MarinaIntroduction: The material culture of everyday lifePart I: Things1. The meaning of design: Things with attitude2. The meaning of things: Design in the lower case3. Things and the dynamics of social changePart II: Themes4. Continuity: Authenticity and the paradoxical nature of reproduction5. Change: The ephemeral materiality of identity6. Containment: The ecology of personal possessionsPart III: Contexts7. Space: Where things take place8. Time: bringing things to life9. The body: The threshold between nature and cultureConclusionAfterword by Jo TurneyBibliographyIndex

Wild Things is particularly relevant to ongoing discussions of the politics of things. This is because of both Attfield’s choice to focus on voices hitherto unheard from – working class, domestic, female voices – and her effort to situate identity construction – in particular gender and sexual identity – within the her subjects’ choices to buy, use, and accrue things.