This volume is a collection of original articles by sociologists, anthropologists, and folklorists who focus on the integration of material artifacts in the social fabric of everyday life. These theoretically and methodologically diverse case studies examine a broad range of topics: clothing, handicrafts, souvenirs, interior decoration, architecture, consumption, gift giving, and collecting. Consistent with the emerging postmodern perspective in the social sciences, the contributors are sensitive to thecomplexities of deciphering the rich symbolic meanings inherent in or imposed upon objects. Rather than assuming objects to be the passive embodiment of human intentions, the contributors perceive objects as agencies or quasi-agencies in the sense that they are powerful in their own right in defining social situations and in constraining interaction. People engage in "dialogues" with objects because it is difficult to construct and project self - and group-identities in the absence of objects which symbolize achieved and desired statuses and keep alive collective memories.