No toaster is an island. In fact, as Harvey Molotch demonstrates in this sparkling tour of how things are created, the everyday objects of our life are a delicate and clever intermingling of design, timing and functionality that mirrors contemporary life. Where Stuff Comes From is about paper clips, post-its, bathtubs, cars and all the other stuff in our lives. It is about how these items were imagined into existence and made a part of the American material culture. From the designer to the manufacturer to the business owner to the consumer, Molotch guides us through the worlds of technology, design, corporate culture and popular culture, giving us a sense of how and why we want stuff. He rolls up his sleeves and goes behind the scenes at trade shows and in design studios to speak with the product-makers who gave us the world's best-selling garlic press, the Nike swoosh and Volkswagen's resurrected Beetle. A witty and surprising voyage into the aesthetic unconscious of the consumer, Where Stuff Comes From probes the meaning of the objects in our lives and what our possessions say about us. Ultimately, Molotch opens a fascinating window into our economy, society and culture by unlocking the complex strategies behind simple things.

哈維·莫洛奇 Harvey Molotch，紐約大學社會學系教授。芝加哥大學社會學博士。研究領域包括都市發展與政治經濟、設計與消費的社會學研究。1987年與羅根 (John Logan) 合著出版《都市財富》(Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place) 是莫洛奇的知名著作之一，提出「都市是一部成長機器」(city as a growth machine) 此一深具影響力的觀點，說明進入工業生產獲利持續下降的時代，地主、地方政客、房地產業者、資本家、媒體與金融人士形成「成長聯盟」，如何將都市轉變為獲利的根源。近年莫洛奇開創「東西」的研究，聚焦在由各種行動者合作產出的人工製品，探討產品設計師在技術、規範、大眾品味與公司利益交織的框架之中如何設計產品，由此解釋何謂「生產」的社會意義，更透過各式各樣的東西說明社會的結構與文化的力量是如何影響著我們的日常生活。

譯者 李屹 elek，1986年生，高雄人。社會學出身。《秘密讀者》編輯委員。