Tag: why things matter to people

  • Why (material) things matter to people

    I’ve been thinking about this question while clearing out the vast quantity of unused possessions which I’ve accumulated in recent years. The title is a play on Andrew Sayer’s wonderful book Why Things Matter To People in which he explores how we relate to the world through our concerns; his interest is not in the […]

  • Podcast: Andrew Sayer on Why Things Matter To People

    A few years ago I did an interview with Andrew Sayer about his book Why Things Matter To People. It’s one of my favourite books but the podcast got lost twice amidst transitions from one computer to another, as well as forgotten about for a long period of time midway through my PhD. I’m pleased […]

  • Towards a Sociology of the Good Life

    What is the good life? It’s a question which preoccupied me in my past life as a trainee political philosopher and it’s one which still concerns me as a sociologist. It’s rarely addressed within the discipline for reasons that cut through a number of trends within the field: a hostility towards normativity, an admission of […]

  • Why Things Matter to People

    Why Things Matter to People

    Underlying this book is a simple proposition: things matter to people. As well as the thought and interaction which have been traditional objects of the human sciences, we also evaluate – our relation to the world is one of concern. Andrew Sayer’s book is concerned with drawing out the theoretical and methodological implications for social science of recognising this irreducible dimension […]