'Cash the Equity and Realize Yourself': An anthropological approach to house values

TY - JOUR

T1 - 'Cash the Equity and Realize Yourself'

T2 - An anthropological approach to house values

AU - Sjørslev, Inger

PY - 2012/12

Y1 - 2012/12

N2 - The article presents results from an anthropological research project on privately owned single family houses in Denmark. On the basis of ethnographic interviews and within a framework of anthropological theory it argues that an understanding of the equity or "free value" as the literal Danish translation of this economic term would be cannot be achieved without taking into consideration values attached to the house in a broad sense. People's choices about whether or not to realize the free value of the house by remortgaging are determined by many factors besides economic ones. Social values and obligations towards kin and other people are involved in such choices, and the article argues that anthropological theories on materiality, values and economics as embedded can contribute to a more holistic understanding of equity and the house as property and asset for middle class families.

AB - The article presents results from an anthropological research project on privately owned single family houses in Denmark. On the basis of ethnographic interviews and within a framework of anthropological theory it argues that an understanding of the equity or "free value" as the literal Danish translation of this economic term would be cannot be achieved without taking into consideration values attached to the house in a broad sense. People's choices about whether or not to realize the free value of the house by remortgaging are determined by many factors besides economic ones. Social values and obligations towards kin and other people are involved in such choices, and the article argues that anthropological theories on materiality, values and economics as embedded can contribute to a more holistic understanding of equity and the house as property and asset for middle class families.

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1403-6096

VL - 29

SP - 382

EP - 400

JO - Housing, Theory and Society

JF - Housing, Theory and Society

IS - 4

ER -