HIST359 - Consumer Cultures in Modern Europe and the U.S.

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Academic Year 2001/2002

Consumer Cultures in Modern Europe and the U.S.
HIST 359 FA

Crosslistings:
COL 360
WMST 359

This course explores consumer cultures, the rise of "consumer societies," and the centrality of consumption to our understanding of society, culture, politics, and the economy in Europe and the U.S. from the eighteenth century to the present. In developing interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives, the seminar pays special attentions to the construction of gender and class differences and national identities. Topics include shifting commercial structures and practices; the urban landscape; changing attitudes toward luxury, shopping, and spending; fashion and the body; the role of the state; consumer-citizenship; Cold War consumerism; Americanization and globalization.

MAJOR READINGS

Victoria de Grazia, with Ellen Furlough, eds., THE SEX OF THINGS: GENDER AND CONSUMPTION IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 1996).

Susan Strasser, Charles McGovern, and Matthias Judt, eds., GETTING AND SPENDING. EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN CONSUMER SOCIETIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Michael Miller, THE BON MARCHÉ: BOURGEOIS CULTURE AND THE DEPARTMENT STORE, 1869-1920 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).

Arjun Appadurai, MODERNITY AT LARGE: CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF GLOBALIZATION (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996).

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly response papers
Oral presentation
Three papers, each 5-7 pages.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Only COL majors will be allowed to take this course on a credit/unsatisfactory basis. All others must take this course for a letter grade.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST Grading Mode: Student Option

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Stitziel,Judd

Times: ..T.R.. 07:00PM-08:20PM; Location: JUDD113

Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 20)

SR. major: Jr. major:

SR. non-major: 7 Jr. non-major: 7 SO: 6 FR: X

Special Attributes:

Curricular Renewal: Reading Non-Verbal Texts, Writing

Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2002