ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2 I outlined aspects of the cultural meanings of property, illustrating how it acts as a metaphor for ideas of the self, knowledge and law. In Chapter 3 some of the historical transitions in the legal idea of property were considered: the transitions I described concerned the changing shape of property and, in particular, its shifting relationship to various forms of power, the changing identities of property owners and some important shifts in what can be regarded as an object of property. These historical transitions were motivated and accompanied by a combination of economic, cultural, ideological and political factors, including rising individualism, gender and racial equality, the desire for economic security, corporate power, and secularism.
