Folk Theories of Artifact Creation: How Intuitions About Human Labor Influence the Value of Artifacts

Abstract

What are the consequences of lay beliefs about how things are made? In this article, we describe a Western folk theory of artifact creation, highlighting how intuitive dualism regarding mental and physical labor (i.e., folk psychology) can lead to the perceived transmission of properties from makers to material artifacts (i.e., folk physics), and affect people's interactions with material artifacts. We show how this folk theory structures the conceptual domain of material artifacts by differentiating the contemporary lay concepts of art/craft and industrial production, and how it influences people's evaluations of different types of artifacts and their makers. We propose that the folk theory and lay concepts of art/craft and industrial production are best understood within a specific sociohistorical context, and review potential sources of cross-cultural and cross-temporal variation. We conclude by making recommendations for future research and examining the implications for promoting environmental sustainability and social justice in production systems.

Keywords: culture; folk theories; material artifacts; organizing framework; sustainability.

Figure 1.

The Western folk theory of artifact creation. Note. The author’s mental concept is materialized into a material artifact by the instrument’s physical assembling of the materials. It is believed that makers’ mental concept and physical essences are transferred to the material artifact (property transmission proposition). The dominant emphasis of the mental over the physical is illustrated by the use of solid versus dashed lines (mental primacy proposition).