How do the objects in a home echo and reinforce the identity of the self and condition of the family? How do objects acquire their meanings differently in light of differing personal and familial philosophies for living? Csikzentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton unravels the triumvariate of self, objects, and home, motivated by a case study of 80 or so American middle and lower class families in the Chicago suburbs in the 1970s. What's most striking about this book is how closely the analysis of the case study aligns itself with my personally held stereotypes of families - warm versus cold, macho handy-man emotionally inarticulate husband versus domesticated emotional homemaker wife, material and pleasure oriented youth versus nostalgia-oriented elderly. Maybe these stereotypes truly are the hallmark of American families, but surely narrative psychologists like Kevin Murray would question how much life and truth imitate the fictional stories and characatures of "typical families" and "typical roles." There is almost something unseemly and unsettling about the "warm and fuzzy" and "summer camp"-esque conclusions drawn in this book, yet I will keep an open mind and continue nonetheless. This book is important relative to its peers because like it or not, it is backed by real case study.
