Fall II, 2001
Downtown Campus
HSPC 210
Phone: 968-7489
Fax: 968-7403
e-mail: macneiam@webster.edu
www.webster.edu/~macneiam
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| History 2550
Fall II, 2001 Downtown Campus |
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Prof. Allan MacNeill
HSPC 210 Phone: 968-7489 Fax: 968-7403 e-mail: macneiam@webster.edu www.webster.edu/~macneiam |
History of the Consumer Society
COURSE DESCRIPTION: The term "consumer society" is an ambiguous and loaded concept that has been used to describe modern Western societies, especially the United States. According to one commentator, a consumer society is one "in which ever-growing consumption becomes the principle aspiration, source of identity, and leisure activity for more and more of the population." Not everyone agrees with this characterization, nor is there consensus on the quality of life in consumer societies. In this course we will survey the fascinating and fast-growing body of literature on the history of the consumer society, examining cultural changes and the historical development of the institutions of department stores, shopping malls, advertising and Wal-Mart. By the end of the course, students should have a more critical understanding of our everyday lives and the rapidly-moving and seductive sights, sounds and activities of the consumer culture.
TEXT
| William Leach, Land of Desire: Merchants,
Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture. New York: Vintage Books.
1993
Additional readings will be handed out in class.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING |
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Take-Home Midterm(25%) Final Exam(25%) Participation(10%) |
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ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
| It is the policy of the instructor that any student caught cheating or committing plagiarism will receive a failing grade for the course and my be subject to further disciplinary action. Plagiarism occurs when a writer intentionally or unintentionally uses someone else's words or ideas without proper acknowledgement. |
COURSE OUTLINE
| Oct. 25 | What is a Consumer Society?: An Overview and Comparison
of Different Perspectives.
Juliet B. Schor, "The
New Politics of Consumption." Do Americans Shop Too Much? Boston:
Beacon Press. 2000
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| Nov. 1 | Cultural Change and the Contradictions of Modern Consumerism
Daniel Horowitz, "Consumption in Antebellum Life and Thought" The Morality of Spending: Attitudes Toward the Consumer Society in America. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. 1985 Leach, Land of Desire, Introduction, Ch. 1 |
| Nov. 8 | Institutional Change: The Department Store and the Emergence
of the Modern Consumer
William Leach, Land of Desire, Chs. 2-4, 11 Elaine Abelson, When Ladies Go A Thieving, Chs. 1 |
| Nov. 15 | Conflicting Thoughts on Consumer Culture
William Leach, Land of Desire, Chs. 7,8 Horkheimer and Adorno, "The
Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" Dialect of Enlightenment.
New York: Continuum.1987 (originally published in 1944)
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| Nov. 22 | Thanksgiving. NO CLASS |
| Nov. 29 | From Hucksters to Hipsters: A History of Advertising
Roland Marchand, "The Great Parables" Advertising the American Dream. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1985 Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool, Ch 1 The Situationist International, "The Decline and Fall of the Spectacle- Commodity Economy" Situationist International Anthology. No Copyright. Published by the Bureau of Public Secrets. Berkeley, California. |
| Dec. 6 | Suburbia and the Shopping Mall
Lizabeth Cohen, "From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America" American Historical Review. October, 1996. John Fiske, "Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power and Resistance." Schor and Holt, The Consumer Society Reader. New York: The New Press. 2000 Michael Schudson, "Delectable Materialism: Second Thoughts on Consumer
Culture"
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| Dec. 13 | FINAL EXAM |