Gift Wrapping Ourselves: The Final Gift Exchange

Abstract

By applying the heuristic, we observed that a lack of shared definitions of the meaning and value of objects created dilemmas in disposing of personal objects, particularly those connected to a person's material self. We also offer suggestions for making the process go more smoothly, such as inquiring about the preferences of others and telling stories associated with objects to create shared definitions of the objects' significance to the giver and/or to family history.

Safe passage of goods and self during residential relocation in later life

“…The safe passage theme appeared in another way in our interviews, via expressions of regret at not having been able to place things appropriately. Gift refusals have been noted in other studies of older people and dispositions (Marcoux 2001; Marx, Solomon and Miller 2004). So it was in the households that we visited.…”

“…‘Gift wrapping ourselves’ (Marx, Solomon and Miller 2004) may likewise be a developmental imperative (Hunter and Rowles 2005). Using intentional gifts to control how one is remembered is not only a matter of self-transmission but also an attempt to perhaps shape ideas about gender (Marcoux 2001) or family (Curasi, Price and Arnould 2004).…”

Feels Like Home: Home Staging, Materiality, and Embodied Consumption

“…This affinity has been variously described as an embodied sense of "fit" (Allen 2002), as "resonance" (Schudson 1989), and as "self-congruity" (Sirgy et al 2005). This match between person and product is important for consumption decisions in general, and should be even more so for houses, which are charged with cultural meanings regarding inhabitants' social networks and status in the broader social world (Douglas 1991;Hurdley 2006), with inhabitants' remembered past and imagined future (Csikszenthmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton 1981;Marx, Solomon, and Miller 2004;Rogers 2013), and with assumptions about the ideal family and the ideal home (Chapman and Hockey 2002;Dickinson, Malone Maugh, and Kaston Tange 2004;Gillis 1997;Golab 2013). In order to understand home buying in the United States, it is necessary to investigate how the material context of home buying is constructed for homebuyers.…”

Possession divestment by sales in later life

“…Things kept, perhaps for a long time, will now drop away. Research on possessions in later life has tended to emphasize the fixed meanings of belongings (Marx, Solomon & Miller, 2004; Morris, 1992; Price, Arnould & Curasi, 2000). The method of most studies has been to probe the meanings of important or cherished belongings.…”

“…Movers may undertake special dispositions in order to protect the physical and symbolic properties of their belongings and, in so doing, perhaps secure a legacy for the givers’ values, personality, and identity (Addington & Ekerdt, 2014; Price et al, 2000; Marx et al, 2004). Such placings can achieve “safe passage” of the object as well as the self (Ekerdt, Luborsky & Lysack, 2012; Roster, 2001).…”