De mercadoria a presente, ou como uma mercadoria massificada se transforma em presente singular

Abstract

Over the last century, the culture of industrial society has become increasingly based in a world of objects massively produced and distributed. Through an approach of the consumption as a cultural practice, this article highlights some of the mechanisms by which the commodities are placed at the service of creating and maintaining sociability networks of the consumers. Systematizing the appropriations of the social actors concerning the consumption for others, I clarify some of the procedures by which goods interconnect who buys them and who receives them as gifts. The analysed data was obtained from a qualitative design study, completed in 2007, that included the exchange ritual operated by 24 families dwelling in Oporto city or 50 Kilometres surroundings. Given the totality of the circumstances of offer and receipt of gifts from family and its members, it is clarified how goods are used as mediators of interpersonal relationships.