Fixing Work and the Work of Repair

Abstract

admits to being a speed fetishist, and he understands all too well that his customers, driven by similar irrational desires, pay him vast sums to realize their motorcycle dreams. Now, I am the last person to begrudge them their consumer pleasures. But to be fair to the rest of us who might fetishize different commodities, it behooves him to clarify why some pleasures are more soulful than others. He tries to do this by drawing a distinction between things and devi ces: the former have inherently meaningful qualities that require focused attention and disciplined mastery to fully appreciate (musical instruments are an example), while the latter provoke instant gratification, diver sion, and distraction (e.g., the I-Pod). If only matters were so simple. The problem is that items in material culture do not have