The Art, the Market, and Sociology: Concluding Remarks

Abstract

In all historical societies that have been explored so far, certain categories of objects have been found that are especially highly valued, or that are even regarded and treated as non-disposable. Such “holy” or extraordinary items withdrawn from any profane use may come in quite different shape, for example, in the form of natural objects such as shells at tribal societies in Melanesia, ceremonial stone axes in New Guinea, or religious relics in Christianity up to national monuments or royal crown jewels in the European Middle Ages. They all share the peculiarity of conferring symbolic power, a form of power that seems to rest precisely on the fact that it is withdrawn from the realm of “earthly things” and that it gains sublimity through the collective recognition and appreciation it receives.