objects

"Objects are not things that spring into existence unbidden or, manna-life, fall out of the sky for us to pick up and parade up and down with in front of some anonymous mass, or even contemplate in isolation. Instead, objects exist concretely in practical relations with concrete individuals. We make objects in the workplace, buy them in the shop and take them home to our families (...). The workplace, shop and household, like the people and objects within them, exist in public structures but are not reducible to those structures. These concrete settings and our experiences and personal relationships within affect our experiences with objects and the ways we understand them."

James G. Carrier (1995, p.7). Gifts and Commodities. Exchange and Western Capitalism since 1700.