Mary Douglas: Consumption codes, meaning structures and classification systems

Abstract

Mary Douglas was a central figure in twentieth-century British social anthropology. This chapter argues that in the best tradition of the structuralist project as an all-purpose theory of culture, the core of her oeuvre constitutes a crucial – and in the context of contemporary consumption studies. It also argues that the insights her work generated remain an essential ingredient within contemporary consumption studies, even if frequently un-acknowledged, or taken for granted. To contextualise Mary Douglas's work it is important to understand where her intellectual stimulus comes from and how it fits into the key intellectual currents of social and cultural research. In Purity and Danger, Douglas draws on historical and anthropological data to present an elegant, synthetic account of the systemic basis of classifications of dirt and cleanliness. Mary Douglas's book written with the economist Baron Isherwood, The World of Goods, is an influential attempt to apply Durkheimian insights to problems of contemporary consumption.