An anthropological look at cats and the rituals of consumer life

I have been doing a lot of work about the cultural meanings of online behavior. It was inevitable that at some point I would consider, anthropologically, our fascination with cats, a ubiquitous presence online. If the reader can make her way through the first few “theory pages” of my essay in the Journal of Business Anthropology, she will find a discussion of the topic of cats, and of the ritual elements that surround their care and feeding.  The whole piece considers the ritual and emotional elements of consumer behaviors and the way in which a sense of meaning, and even sacredness and beauty, can be derived from the most ordinary of things and activities.