The `Social Death' of Unused Gifts

Surplus and Value in Contemporary Japan

Bibliographic Data

ID2390933
AuthorsInge Daniels (University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume14
Issue3
Pages385-408
Publication date2009-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183509106426
OpenAlexW2096938818
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited47

This article investigates the circulation and consumption of gifts in contemporary, urban Japan. It sets out to challenge key anthropological debates about gifting that, firstly, focus on the inalienable connection between the donor and the gift and, secondly, emphasize the symbolic potential and historical depth of things. The Japanese gifts under discussion, employed in the production and reproduction of the social, cosmic and economic order, are commodities. They can be easily disentangled from the donor and are imbued with the spirit of the recipient through everyday consumption. Moreover, because these gifts are supposed to disappear through use, this article also draws attention to the significance of material loss in the creation of value

Aesthetics · Art · Circulation (fluid dynamics · Consumption · Consumption (sociology · Economics · Everyday life · Order (exchange · Political science · Production (economics · Psychoanalysis · Reproduction · Social science · Sociology · The Symbolic · Value (mathematics · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Chinese history and philosophy · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Psychology

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