Garage sales as practice: Ideologies of women, work and community in daily life. (Volumes I and II).

摘要

Between 6 and 9 million garage sales generate over ;The garage sale is the site for beliefs and practices at variance with those of the formal economy to emerge. Although of a mixed and somewhat contradictory nature, four alternate visions, or Visions of Power, are identified: the reappropriation of one's own labor; the establishment of a system of exchange in which individuals and social justice play key roles; the feeling that one has "beaten the system," or found a loophole in oppressive or inane social relations; and the recreation of caring community. Theories of practice as espoused by Bourdieu and Giddens are used to develop these Visions.;The dissertation focuses on how garage sale practice is empowering for women, who comprise two-thirds of the shoppers and sellers. Seen as an extension of traditional household labor, the garage sale provides a locus for publicly valorizing domestic skills and for earning some needed cash. Shoppers are empowered through transposing consumer skills to an arena that vastly stretches household budgets. The dissertation also examines the sexual division of labor and questions of women and work through discourse analysis.;This work explores the sense of community generated in the garage sale. Things go from where they are to where they are needed, often at no cost. An ethos of generalized reciprocity governs a type of exchange which links strangers through personal belongings. Finally, the growing phenomenon of the neighborhood sale is discussed to show how it generates neighborhood solidarity as well as a larger experience of community.