Gregory (1982:117) also suggests the existence of an "' ambiguous' economy," where gifts become commodities and vice-versa. Following Mauss (1967) and Gregory (1982), Carrier (1995) retraces the themes of inalienability and identity, and the obligations of transactors created with gift exchange, and the alienation of object from person associated with commodity exchange. His main contribution is in how people and objects interact, i.e., how people think about themselves and the objects they transact, and the different set of social relations that are developed through transactions, particularly the growing alienation of persons and objects due to industriali? zation. [T]he spread of industrial and commercial capitalism has meant the spread of alienated relations and objects. This spread, however, has not done away with people's need to have their objects be possessions, nor has it abolished the need to transact possessions in personal relationships. Rather, in some ways it has made that need more urgent. At the same time, however, the spread of capitalism has made it more difficult to fulfill that need, for one of its consequences has been that most of the objects that people confront are commodities, inappropriate for trans? actions in personal relations. (Carrier 1995:11) He suggests to better understand the need to "appropriate" objects in the age of industrialization, it is necessary to look closer at the life of things through pro? duction, exchange, and consumption; the circulation of objects, how people interact with them, and in particular, the role of different actors in facilitating the appropriation of objects by consumers. Carrier (1995) identifies various factors that influence the appropriation of an object. One is the object itself: "Does it have a history, and is that history interesting?" (1995:111). Appropriation is a dynamic process: "When people share or transact objects, their understanding of the object interacts with their understanding of the relationship, strengthening or weakening it, modifying or reproducing people's understandings of each other in their relationship and of the objects involved" (Carrier 1995:8). The growing alienation of people from things under capitalism has led to the need for people to appropriate commodities and make them possessions. Thus, "shopping is not simply [a] mechanical process ... [but]... where people shop and the ways they shop can be important for changing those things from impersonal commodities to possessions that embody the shopper's identity and location in a web of personal relationships" (Carrier 1995:15). Appropriation may take two forms: appropriation of the object?making the object personal, requiring that "the purchaser works directly, albeit symbolically on the object," and appropriation of the relationship?redefining the relationship between buyer and seller, making an anonymous relationship personal (Carrier 1995:120). In his examination of catalogue shopping, advertisers assist the consumer in the