The objects in turn represent the cycles of production and exchange that provide them with a social value (Webb, 1974: 351–82). ![]() (See Weiner, 1982 Appadurai, 1986: ‘Introduction’.) The value of these objects is a measure of the power of the owner over the acquisition and distribution of desired goods. ![]() Anthropologists have shown that goods symbolic of wealth generally fall between two absolutes: alienable goods (items not tied to social membership and produced for giving, trading, or selling), and inalienable goods (items tied to social membership and imbued with a sense of the sacred history of the owner relics found or crafted specifically to be treasured and saved). In stratified societies, accumulated material goods-be they made of metal, stone, cloth, bone, or even foodstuffs-represent the wealth and privilege of the élite within a social hierarchy.
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