ABSTRACT
The bifurcation may make sense, or at least be harmless if, as Gary Becker contended, all human relationships are essentially commodity exchange relationships or alternatively if these two systems or modes of interaction are essentially independent of one another. The implications for the economic theory of consumer behavior of viewing commodities as signs, then, may be quite startling and revolutionary. Among the universe of signs used to constitute a particular self are commodities. As the self changes through continued discourse, so too will the meanings of the commodities selected, and also the selection of commodities. Commodities-as-signs challenge also the efficacy of static economic analysis. For in conversation, participants enter into relationship with unforeseen eventualities, and commodities-as-signs means that commodities participate in these uncertain and evolving relationships.
