Home Rules [Hardcover]

Professor Denis Wood (Author), Professor Robert J. Beck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1994

In "Home Rules" Wood and Beck undertake a remarkable exploration of the "built environment" and our relationship to it. Their objective is to explore and understand a specific room-the living room at 435 Cutler Street, the home of Denis and Ingrid Wood and their children, Randall and Chandler. But ultimately their search is for an understanding of every room as an institution, a cultural creation centered on fundamental human needs, activities, and beliefs. This work is a case study of a particular family's life in a particular room. Based on Beck's interviews with each member of the Wood family, the book identifies 223 rules addressing safety, behaviour, and treatment of the room's 70 objects. A tour of the room proceeds object by object - screen door, door, doorframe, window in the door - with each object presented first in its physical form with a photograph and description, then in terms of the rules that govern its use or treatment, and finally in light of the values and meanings that surround it. In their description and analysis, Wood and Beck show how every room we inhabit is much more than an architectural construct. As the manifestation of meanings and values - conveyed to children as spoken rules - the room is part of the larger network of rules and customs that exist for au people in their domestic environments. By "living the room" with our children, we introduce them to a way of life, a system of beliefs, and a manner of dealing with any environment or place. Ultimately, the authors conclude, a room is a memory. It stores in the arrangement of its parts how we sit together and interact. It holds for children the memory of rooms in which their parents grew up, which in turn were memories of other, more distant rooms, and so on across the generations.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rules, rules, and more rules, especially rules made by parents. Don't you just hate them? This unusual in-depth sociological study explores our personal relationship with the built environment that surrounds each of us. The authors examine this relationship with a specific case in point--the living room of the Woods's home. The study reveals 223 rules addressing safety, behavior, and treatment of the room's 70 objects. Each rule has been coded to indicate whether it relates to the protection of a thing or a kid (TCON, KCON) or the appearance of a thing or a kid (tAPP, kAPP). The lines are drawn, the rules are made, and the rationale behind them is analyzed from a societal and cultural viewpoint, with personal commentary also provided. Recommended. (Illustrations not seen).
- Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"As Wood and Beck poignantly prove, even if they never say so, where we live does become us." -- New Yorker

"Denis Wood and Robert Beck undertake a minutely detailed examination of the enculturing power of the home... Anyone who gets through it will look at children's home environments with fresher, more wondering, and more appreciative eyes." -- Kelly Bulkeley, Religious Studies Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801846188
• ISBN-13: 978-0801846182
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.