The Importance Of Gifts And The Increasing Commodification Of Modern Society

It can be argued that Christmas as a holiday is far removed from the way it was first envisioned. That said, there are certain element that many people share or celebrate making it an arguably complex holiday. As the preeminent children’s author of his generation, Geisel serving heavily on the minds of his young readers helped shape what Christmas means for many people with his narrative How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Though at the surface the work is a simple morality tale that promotes unity over consumerism, it has subtle nuances that make the work interesting on several

The anthropology of gifts has been mostly studied in the context of non-Western cultures. The important roles of gift giving were highlighted by classical anthropologists such as Malinowski, Mauss and Levi-Strauss. They stressed the significance of reciprocity and obligation suggested in gift exchange and that gift giving is a one practice of material expression that integrates a society.

Christmas like Thanksgiving believe it or not, do happen to share many traits. One major factor that the two own is the warmth and love of bringing family and close friends together. It’s the few times a year that everyone has a reason to all gather around to

The exchange of gifts between family members and friends is the commercial aspect of the holiday which has been embraced by shop-owners of large and small businesses. Spending money

With the wreaths and Yule logs that come standard with this holiday comes a caring from deep in the hearts of people unbeknownst to them at any other time of the year. At the sight of the Christmas decor and the flames roaring at the hearth, a warmth envelops the heart, one with which no flame, however hot, could compete. We see in our gift-wrap and our greeting cards and our holiday stockings an entirely new persona occupying this world we live in, reprieving us from the daily heartaches we all know as familiar.

In his article, Reciprocity and the Power of Giving, Lee Cronk discusses the different cultural meanings placed upon the act of gift giving. The act of exchanging of gifts has many unique implications, which are based on the culture of the giver and the recipient. Cronk discusses the idea of reciprocity, which is the expectance of exchange associated with gift giving. Cronk brings up the example of “Indian Gifts” which was a term that white settlers connected to the Native American people’s expectation of receiving an equivalent gift after being given one. This expectation is rooted into the culture of the Native American people, which was misunderstood by the settlers. The real implication of

There is no doubt that Christmas is a religious event but nowadays Christmas becomes more commercialized, as it has been defined as a high consumption season because the gifts giving culture becomes the most important part of Christmas and the consumers want to please their children

According to the American Heritage College Dictionary the word Christmas is defined as “the annual festival of the Christian church commemorating the birth of Jesus: celebrated on December 25 and now generally observed as a legal holiday and an occasion for exchanging gifts.” When one thinks of Christmas they may think of Santa, elves, Jesus, and Christmas music. One such as Scrooge, who hates Christmas and is greedy. However one English author reminds readers Christmas can be found in the most dark people. Charles dickens’s A Christmas Carol helps readers identify the negative effects of greed.

The giving of a gift that was used to purchase another is a generous symbol of what Christmas represents and was strongly displayed here.

In Money Can't Buy Love: Asymmetric Beliefs about Gift Price and Feelings of Appreciation by Francis Flynn and Gabrielle Adams, they talk deeply about the amount of gifts that people buy. For instance millions of Americans are always buying items and gifts every single day. It is especially this way during the month of December when shoppers “spent over $30 billion at retail stores”(Flynn and Adams 5). The massive amount of shopping for gifts for people who may not even like them is considered a bad habit to economists. People buy things for people who wouldn’t normally buy those things to begin with. It represents a waste in resources and is “referred to as ‘the deadweight loss of Christmas’” which is because people tend to overspend on gifts

Since I have grown up living across the country from my extended family, I never had the big family experience of getting together for holidays. However, my little family managed to still keep the spirit even though their was not much of us. We have small traditions such as opening one present on Christmas Eve and breaking the wishbone on Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve, we also eat snack food throughout the day and bake while watching Christmas movies. If we lived in Idaho with the rest of the family, we would join the annual Memorial Day family reunion, where they BBQ and visit family member’s graves. When I do have children someday I plan on passing down the different traditions and maybe creating some of my

Christmas is the annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th December, at least that is what it began as initially. Since it has expanded into an international phenomenon for consumption, taking priority over our everyday practices of life (Michel De Certeau, 1980). Our time we spend divided between work and leisure in accordance to the codes and conventions of society shifts, Christmas derails these expectations. Yet surprisingly Christmas gains little attention in terms of social research, despite the fact that it can be explored diversely. The inquiry ‘What is Christmas?’ links to multiple aspects of social research. The aspects of Christmas can be subdivided into the following; religion, commercialism, gift-giving, social relationships, sensualism and mythology. This essay will analyse these fundamentals of Christmas through both psychological and sociological perspectives, as the theories among these two social sciences are best suited to the elements which make up Christmas itself.

My family celebrates in many different ways.For ThanksGiving my family gathers at my grandma's house or at my aunt's house for a family diner.Sometimes we eat Turkey but sometimes we don't.Most of the time we celebrate thanksgiving we just gather together at a family member's house and eat an every day meal and chat.The last time we ate Turkey was about two years ago at my grandmas house.Most of the time when we celebrate thanksgiving we usually eat Beans,Rice, and some carne asada.For christmas,we celebrate in a whole diffrent way.My family and I usually always fix the house up for christmas.We decorate outside with christmas lights.We put up the christmas tree and we decorate the living room,kitchen and the rooms.On christmas eve we usually

Religious beliefs soon formed new values as the importance of gift giving became a ‘tradition’ among religions. In most religions helping others who could not help themselves was already a steadfast belief. As people’s values of wanting to help and give to others started to intertwine with the calendar holidays many people started to look for newer and better gift ideas for their loved ones and soon strangers as well. Christian’s predominantly could be found buying minuscule little gift items, such as notebook paper, pencils, and ribbons, for the homeless children, their families and the poorer community that could not provide for themselves during the holiday seasons.

Christmas is meant for joy and laughter, not injuries and pain. Each year there are hundreds of injuries that occur on the morning of December 25th. When the holiday approaches Americans love to get into the Christmas spirit. Each family celebrates Christmas with their own traditions and rituals that determine their holiday activities. I would have never thought that my family’s traditions for Christmas morning would help me shape my values.