 He argues that since we cannot control death as an event, we use our ability to control the gradual separation from the objects associated with the deceased as a way of dealing with loss.Complementary to this work on separation from things are three books about shopping, the most influential of which, "A Theory of Shopping," looks at how the study of everyday purchases can be a route to understanding how love operates within the family.He has also carried out several projects on female domestic labour and being a mother, including studies of au pairs, and Filipina women in London and their relationship to their left behind children in the Philippines.