NEW LIVES FROM USED GOODS: GARAGE SALES AS RITES OF PASSAGE

Abstract

The U. S. garage or yard sale often serves as a secular rite of passage for Americans. Given the importance of consumer goods to the creation of personal identities, the public disposal (or acquisition) of such possessions can signal a major shift in life orientation. Moving, downsizing, selling baby items or grandmother’s effects after her death all constitute publically engaged rituals of transition to another status or identity. After selling possessions to the public, sellers are left with more space, both physical and psychological, as well as money that can be used to fashion a new life identity by generating resources to develop emerging “potential selves.";