Returning To Marina's Happy Meal Toys

Finally, the objects described above are the end result of a process through which value is socially ascribed to the inanimate. Igor Kopytoff (1986) defines this process in modern nations as a tension between culturally ascribed and individually determined value, which takes into account the degree to which something is unique. Returning to Marina’s Happy Meal toys helps to illuminate this process. Firstly, McDonald’s toys are mass produced from widely-available materials. Culturally, this detracts from their value, unless they are in some way flawed enough to be unique. Low social value is exactly why they are so meaningful to Marina, however, who subverts her parents’ professed fondness for status items. She also find them “sacred” (Kopytoff,