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Jeanne E. Arnold

Elinor Ochs

Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors Hardcover – July 12, 2012

by Jeanne E. Arnold (Author), Anthony P. Graesch (Author), Enzo Ragazzini (Author),

37 ratings

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Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century cross-cuts the ranks of important books on social history, consumerism, contemporary culture, the meaning of material culture, domestic architecture, and household ethnoarchaeology. Far richer in information and more incisive than America at Home (Smolan and Erwitt), it also moves well beyond Rick Smolan's Day in the Life series. It is a distant cousin of Material World and Hungry Planet in content and style, but represents a blend of rigorous science and photography that none of these books can claim. Using archaeological approaches to human material culture, this volume offers unprecedented access to the middle-class American home through the kaleidoscopic lens of no-limits photography and many kinds of never-before acquired data about how people actually live their lives at home.

Based on a rigorous, nine-year project at UCLA, this book has appeal not only to scientists but also to all people who share intense curiosity about what goes on at home in their neighborhoods. Many who read the book will see their own lives mirrored in these pages and can reflect on how other people cope with their mountains of possessions and other daily challenges. Readers abroad will be equally fascinated by the contrasts between their own kinds of materialism and the typical American experience. The book will interest a range of designers, builders, and architects as well as scholars and students who research various facets of U.S. and global consumerism, cultural history, and economic history.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An unflinching view of the American family, with all its stresses and joys on display. It's full of intriguing data." -The New York Times

"A fascinating snapshot of America's material culture." -Larry Mantle, AirTalk, Southern California Public Radio

"A meticulous, systematic documentation by a cross-disciplinary team...a visual ethnography of middle-class American households." -The Washington Post

This book documents major findings of a brilliantly conceived and executed piece of social science research that speaks to a very wide and diverse audience. Its findings are significant, credible, and provocative. In my opinion, it is one of the most significant social-science projects undertaken in the United States, demonstrating the power of anthropological and archaeological approaches to researching human behavior, whether in a traditional tribal society or in an industrial megalopolis.

The discussions are filled with interesting insights that could only have come from a first-hand study of household material culture. The flow of everyday life in relation to places defined by objects provides a refreshing and unique perspective on human behavior. Readers will be drawn in by the lively, well-written, and accessible prose. The images are spectacular because there s nothing else like them in quality, quantity, and especially their unique view of modern family life and household possessions. [This book is] of great significance, not only to the social sciences but also to ongoing policy discussions about what is happening in America. --Michael Brian Schiffer (University of Arizona)

From the Author

Published July 2012.

Second printing October 2012.

Winner of the 2012 JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen Prize.

Item Weight : 1.85 pounds
ISBN-10 : 1931745617
ISBN-13 : 978-1931745611
Hardcover : 180 pages
Dimensions : 10.5 x 0.5 x 10 inches
Publisher : The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press; 1St Edition (July 12, 2012)
Language: : English

Best Sellers Rank: #1,322,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #392 in House & Hotel Photography
- #1,491 in Sociology of Marriage & Family (Books)
- #1,913 in Customs & Traditions Social Sciences

Customer Reviews:
37 ratings

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2 star		6%
1 star		9%

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Kendra Holliday

I like spying on people's houses

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2017

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This book is fascinating and disturbing! I learned about it watching a video on YouTube. I like spying on people's houses, and this did not disappoint. I felt so much shame and guilt "wandering" around people's homes and seeing their private spaces exposed. Bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, clutter, processed food hoarding... made me think about my own home and where people congregate and I did a purge on my home and donated a lot of stuff. I'm a collector and it made me do inventory on material possessions. A real eye opener. And scientific based too!

10 people found this helpful

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Embok

Makes you think about your stuff and its impact on the environment

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2017

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This study of the material culture of several 20th century homes in California illustrates and explains (to some extent) why Americans acquire and keep so many things in their houses. The things acquire emotional meaning, and therefore become difficult to dispose of. In the meantime, the families spend substantial amounts of money on obtaining their stuff. This acquisition continues as if it were an addiction until the objects overrun the houses they are in, causing stress to the families. The sheer volume of unneeded things is an environmental nightmare. Very thought provoking book.

14 people found this helpful

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MoccasinTop Contributor: Pets

Intriguing view of our life style as an archeological dig

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2013

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I'd never thought of the way we live now as finding its place in time by examining our homes, our objects, our selves, as an archeologist would examine a long dead society with limited artifacts. In the book, it says that we came closest to knowing the lives of a past civilization when we found Pompeii. Those people, frozen in motion, had more to tell than any other such dig. But, as the authors say, how much more we could know if we were there as they had moved about their homes, their businesses, picked up objects to use, kept dear thing close and revealed the value placed on some objects. In this respect, it continues to influence me as I make choices daily in my own life, what I treasure, how I go about my daily routine.

Then of course, it renders our homes as activity centers, which we know how to talk about from all the HGTV we watch, and about multi-use areas important in small space living. I wonder if the more multi-use areas a home has, does that reveal a lower economic level? with single use areas in the homes of the wealthy expanded like gas to fill a void? I'll think on that a bit too.

I did not get this to help me design my home remodel, but it appeals to my need for self awareness. I do not often think of my place in time......but this is so fascinating, it feels like James Michener's novel THE SOURCE, which dug deeper and deeper and layer by layer down with his civilizations, connecting the family Ur to preceding generations.

When the book arrived, I laid it bedside, intending to scan the contents that night. Well, I decided to take a peek after I read the Introduction, and then I kept going. It isn't a long book, easily read through. And then it needs to be revisited a bit later on, after you think about it. I have it on my dining table still, where I have the drawings for our house remodel in the planning stage. I will pick it up on occasion and glance at some of the room use and item use graphics. So yes, I like this book. And I would buy it again. I might even loan it to my architect. It would be nice to talk with a professional about his take on the book.

53 people found this helpful

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Bunny

Looking into someone's soul....

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2015

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I have always believed that when I am invited into someone's home, it's like an invitation to look into their soul. It may sound a bit heavy...but think about it. Home is where their memories live, their interests, travels and story's are displayed everywhere. Their business and family size, style and personality is all on display. I have always found this fascinating!
This book does a brilliant job of making you ponder how your home really speaks to how you fit in to life today. How and why we use spaces the way we do, and how materialism is a concept we may rarely think about, but something we are all living. The photography in this book is great and I found many of the correlations between things and people solidly founded and pretty interesting. I would be curious to see the same book for a larger sample size, perhaps across the country.
My final verdict.....buy this book!

20 people found this helpful

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SFSue

very interesting subject

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2020

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good info on our clutter culture. Helps thinking about what I am doing next time I go to Costco, or Walmart, or on-line at Amazon.com.

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My Roman Apartment

Buying A Second Copy To Donate To My Public Library!

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2013

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This is a fascinating and disturbing read about American consumerist culture written from the standpoint of scientists studying the modern equivalent of an archeological dig site.

As a side benefit, after reading this book I was totally motivated to clean my house. Which is amazing. Because there's really nothing I hate more than housework.

60 people found this helpful

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Carmen Devine

Left me wanting to read more

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2014

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This is a peculiar book, the coffee table version of a large scale sociology study on contemporary Angelenos (that is, natives of Los Angeles) This book tells in some detail, and lots of pictures, how middle class people actually live in the early 21st century. In some ways this book is like watching a train wreck, almost every home is so cluttered and trashed you can't really believe it - but then you look under your own cupboards and into the corners of your own child's room and realize that these are pictures of your own home! aghhhh

There is a lot of food for thought, there isn't a lot of commentary on the meaning of people's over-consumption or the resulting stress and anguish, but the book begs the questions about why we are living this way, what are the alternatives or are there viable alternatives within this time and place.

Those of us who studied sociology, or history, or design, or other related topics are very familiar with the process of analyzing studies done of other people, other places, other times...But this book turns the lens back onto the self in an eye-opening and discomforting way.

I would like to see a book with more of the actual study findings, more of the photos, and maybe even some essays by cultural theorists reacting to the work. Much food for thought.

23 people found this helpful

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Bernhard Kockoth

Endlich ein realistisches Einrichtungsbuch.

Reviewed in Germany on March 20, 2013

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Aufgrund der Tiefe dieser Studie über den wahren Inhalt von Häusern typischer amerikanischer Westküstenfamilien leider etwas veraltet, es stehen auf vielen Fotos noch Röhrenfernseher und die meisten abgebildeten Computer sind schon durch Laptops und iPads ersetzt. Nichtsdestotrotz gibt dieses Buch viele realistische Einrichtungslösungen aus den USA weiter, ganz im Gegensatz zu den Hochglanzpostillen und Kaffeetisch-Büchern mit ihren durchstilisierten sterilen Wohnvorschlägen die kaum praktischen Nutzen aufweisen. Hier wird das wirkliche Leben gezeigt und die Probleme mit denen vor allem Familien mit Kindern konfrontiert werden.

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Chris cat lady

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on September 11, 2015

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Excellent book. Fascinating.

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