Using Objects Sociologically

Being an Object-User

An object user is a person who attaches a thing to themselves that is designed to communicate.
A person does this when, through the object they select, they see a dream and ideal that attracts them.
When this happens, a person attaches to this object because they wish to identify themselves with the dream they see through it.

princessdress For example, if a five-year-old girl wears a pink, frilly dress, she is attracted to the dream this dress channels – which is of living the life of a princess. When she wears this dress, she identifies herself as ‘being a princess.’ This identification is what makes the object attractive. Wearing this dress, she communicates to herself and to others that the dream of being a princess is attractive.

Later in life, objects speak to a wide audience. For example, an author attaches their name to a text. A Twitter author has their name on what they post. The object here is material in its electronic form and may speak to millions of strangers on the web by its denotative attractiveness.
Similarly, a book author has their name printed on any book they publish. The communicating object here is distributed through printed paper outlets and attracts readers through the vision it offers.

Object communication is sociological because it is a relating-to-others action that is not spoken (it’s object-based) and not economic (it doesn’t communicate through the value of money). It’s a communication that connects people in a material-based and freely accessible way.